That Little Wharf-rat Saw His Shadow!

A Happy Groundhog Day to all of you….

I’m going to throw a wrench in the works by not talking about Groundhog Day at all. Not a whit. Not a jot. Not a tittle. You’ll have to go get your Groundhog Day fix elsewhere.

I AM, however, going to talk to you about Lent (a-ha! Gotcha! Mwahahahahahahaha). Lent is starting this week. Have you thought about what to give up for Lent? After all, that’s the traditional thing to do – give something up, yeah?

Well…let me propose an alternative. You can sacrifice and focus on Jesus during the period of Lent without necessarily giving something up (although if you want to, go ahead – I both support and endorse giving up stuff for God…I’ll be doing some of that myself in fact). You may find it just as beneficial though to ADD something (or several things) to your life during Lent rather than subtracting something from it. Here are a few examples…during Lent you could:

-Intentionally take some time in the morning or before bed to engage in a spiritual discipline of some type (read a passage of Scripture, journal, light a candle and spend some time in prayer, etc). If you already have a regimen of some type of spiritual discipline(s), consider adding a new one during Lent. Try Lectio Divina or the Jesus Prayer.

-You could engage in more service activities during Lent. Give blood, work a shift at a soup kitchen, donate food or clothes, etc.

-Make a POINT of being more humane to your fellow human. Hold open doors for people, let someone in when you’re driving, pray for people you see stopped on the side of road, give up your seat on the bus or train to someone else, etc.

We don’t have Lent police walking around making sure that you use this time of penitence and reflection as its intended. We don’t have Lent legislators passing laws mandating Lenten activities because they don’t think you have the ability to do it on your own (thankfully). So it is up to you. Take a few moments to consider Christ. Just take a few idle moments and let your mind rest upon Jesus. Let that guide your thoughts (rather than our natural inclination to rationalize a way to doing whatever we want to do) and make a decision about what to do (or not do) as we begin our Lenten journey together.

Grace and peace to you, my friends!

Blessings,

Kevin