Give Me Lent!

A week after Ash Wednesday, Lent is starting to sink into me - or I'm sinking into Lent.  And this is a gift.

Benedict says that the monk's life should be a perpetual Lent.  He doesn't mean (only) the deprivations or disciplines we associate with Lent.  He includes that, but the real point is that the monastic life is aimed at conversion of life.  This is a continual journey, not a destination we reach in our lifetimes.  Lent is a time when all Christians are reminded of this call to conversion and intentional seeking after God, laying aside whatever stands between us and God.

We don't have to wait for Lent.  We don't have to be monastics to live that life all year round.  But monastics also don't get a pass from Lent: "I'm already doing all that one might do in Lent."  No.  Our lives are continually dogged by entropy, by slackening and forgetting and falling away.  Just so, we are continually in need of returning, of starting over, of tightening up.  However and wherever we live, we humans live between entropy and intention.

So here it is, another Lent.  Another spring.  Another call to start over, to return.  Another chance to remember how much God loves us, and to respond with love in turn.  What a gift!

I resist the whole "giving up" thing about Lent, especially if I think I will return to that practice after Easter.  But sometimes I can let this time be a time to change me, to let God begin the work that continues after that glorious day.  Yesterday I realized that the mystery novels I've been reading the past two weeks are sordid.  I love a good puzzle, and some writers manage to offer one in a world where characters love and serve one another.  But I've run out of those, and as I look for a new author I see I settled for some who write well, but create a world I don't want to live in.  So I'm giving up fiction for Lent.  When Easter comes, I'll see if I can find an uplifting author.  But for now, I have plenty to read that will feed me, and more time to pray and walk and listen to God.

How are you with Lent?  Are you eager to return?  Do you just ignore the whole thing?  Perhaps your tradition doesn't include Lent; how is that for you?  Whatever your practice, or lack thereof, do take the opportunity today to hearken to God's voice.  She's singing love songs to you.  Listen.

And, for fun, our flowers.  The geraniums don't know they're outdoor plants.  The orchids don't know they're supposed to be hard to keep growing.  Don't tell them.