Like a lot of us, I've been going around in a bit of a funk the last couple of weeks.  The long, cold winter seems unending and there's no place to put the snow from my driveway any more.  It seems like daily there is a new story about the Church here that is depressing. There's no shortage of disturbing news on a variety of topics.  
As I was staring out my window at the cold this morning the telephone rang, and it was my client on death row, BJ.  Within five minutes, I realized how we can all be the source of light and hope to each other-- truly be Christ for each other--regardless of our circumstances.
The first thing BJ asked, as he always does, was "how's it going, Bob?" So I grumped about the weather, the long winter, etc., etc., etc.  Poor me.
It took him about 30 seconds to turn the conversation around.  First he told me that the shoes we'd ordered had finally arrives, and how great that was.  That was a big deal because we'd ordered shoes for him twice before and both times they hadn't been delivered.  The first time the Fed Ex tracking showed the shoes arriving at the prison but they never got to BJ.  The next time the order somehow got cancelled in processing, although no one bothered to tell us.
But this time the shoes came, and they were great-- looked good, fit well-- they were just what he wanted. 
Before I knew it, Bj was doing a bit of a therapy session with me-- from the middle of Holman Prison-- talking about how things had stabilized at the prison, how well his sister was doing, how the weather was warming up there and would be 80 by the weekend, so he was actually getting outside (most of the winter I worry about BJ because he hates the cold and doesn't get out much).  He was positive, upbeat, encouraging.  I hung up the phone feeling a whole lot better than I had 20 minutes earlier.
We do all bear each other's burdens if we try, don't we.  And we can do that from lots of places, even from death row. Go figure.
Lent is coming, and we all spend time thinking about how to observe it.  We might consider this year promising ourselves that we will look for ways to help bear the burdens carried by those around us.  If a guy in 10 by 12 cell in Atmore. Alabama, facing a death sentance can do it, we all can too.