“…for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19b, NIV)
You may or may not know that this coming Wednesday, February 22, 2023, is Ash Wednesday… which marks the beginning of the season of Lent…which will take us, before we know it, to Easter. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
But wait—first, Lent. Woo hoo! Everyone’s favorite time of year! Who doesn’t look forward to this season set aside for deep self-examination and grim-faced repentance? Who doesn’t love this period reserved for turning away from (bad!) fleshly debauchery and turning toward (good!) spiritual disciplines?
Who doesn’t count down the days until it begins–this opportunity to focus intentionally on our sinful nature and our need for repentance?
Lent–say (sing??) it with me: “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!”
Wait…that doesn’t seem quite right…
Or maybe it is…
What if we thought of Lent not as a forced opportunity to focus on our sinful nature, but instead as a chance to claim more deeply our true identity as God’s beloved, and consider what are the parts of our personality that are keeping us from embracing that more fully?
What if we thought of Lent not as a period reserved for begrudgingly giving up something we do that’s “bad” for us and equally begrudgingly taking on something that’s supposedly “good” for us, but instead as a window of opportunity during which we’re given permission, and in fact encouraged, to recognize and step away from the things that keep us fractured and frantic and broken, and make choices instead for what brings us healing and wholeness and peace–which, yes, might possibly include allowing more space for the Divine Source of our being in our day-to-day living?
What if we thought of Lent not as a season of somber self-examination and grim-faced repentance, but instead as a recurring invitation for honest and humble reflection on who we are, who we want to be, who God is calling us to be, and how we’re living our “one wild and precious life?” (from Mary Oliver’s poem, This Summer Day) as one (and a collection) of God’s beloved??
Is it possible that Lent is the most wonderful time of the year??
Maybe, just maybe…
May God’s Holy Spirit, and an openness in our human spirits, be with us all as we prepare to enter this holy season, in all of our glorious humanity!
Deb: Thanks for sharing this blog post with us. This post is very inspiring to me as we begin Lent because I don’t want to be “fractured and frantic and broken” any longer. This post reminds me that I can make choices for what brings me “healing and wholeness and peace.” This really is the most wonderful season of the year… because I am planning to be transformed by Easter (with God’s help). Thanks!