Lent can be a journey taken in the darkness. Yet, there is a sense about Lent that is so beautiful, so full of gentle light and new life possibilities. In some ways, Lent can be a new start for us, a chance to start all over with more wisdom and resolve. There is newness of life in Lent when we spend these forty days mindfully. There are new beginnings in Lent if we take the Lenten journey with hope and courage. Although Lent can be a time of darkness, a time of trying to open our eyes yet not being able to see our way ahead, it is a worthwhile journey. Each step on this journey can be one of taking a careful step at a time into a darkened place, yet knowing that the light will pierce the darkness.
In that kind of darkness, it does take courage to change things about our lives. It takes a desire to become all we can be and to move toward new beginnings resolutely. Giving up something for Lent is the popular thing to do. But it’s more life-changing to embrace something during Lent, to find ways to become more fully alive. Joan Chittister expresses a wonderful way to take the Lenten Journey.
Lent is a call to weep for what we could have been and are not. Lent is the grace to grieve for what we should have done and did not. Lent is the opportunity to change what we ought to change but have not. Lent is about becoming, doing and changing whatever it is that is blocking the fullness of life in us right now. Lent is a summons to live life anew.
God of the Sparrow 🌱 By Kathy Manis Findley 