Preparing for Lent

The word, Lent, is one that can evoke and even provoke strong reactions from all of us.  For some reading this post...I wonder if I lost you with the title of this.  For others...I pray you might be interested in re-capturing and re-framing this word for a new day.  For all...I hope you will give me a chance.

Lent is at the heart a season of renewal.  It is a time to remember and reclaim who and whose we are.  We are more than just a spouse or parent or our job...we are beloved children of God.  We find our deepest sense of self and our soul takes flight in relationship with God.  But most days, while we know that to be true, we may not always live that way.  What if Lent was less about feeling guilty and more about shining a light on new or renewed ways we can lean into and live out this truth?  What if Lent was less a dirge and more of a dance with the divine?  What if Lent was less about going through the motions and more about deepening our connection to God?

That is the promise of these forty days that begin on Valentines Day in a little over a week.  I think that is significant and sacred.  Can Lent this year be grounded and guided in a love that isn't purchased at the Hallmark Store, but is found in the incarnation of Christ?  Love that doesn't only come down at Christmas but stirs in our life every day.  One poet I love described/defined Lent as the time we pull back the heavy drapery that too often covers our souls to the let the light of love shine through us and in us and to us.  Too often the drapery goes by the names such as obligation or guilt or not enough.  But I believe those drapes were made by human hands....not God's.  So, we pull back the words of humans so that God's words can get a word in edgewise and bring us into the light.

As we enter into February...what would cause your soul to sing and stir?
As we enter into February...how do you long to connect with God?

I pray you will let these questions simmer and stir in these days and find more than a trace of God's grace as you ponder.

Blessings ~~