Lent

You could say the idea of giving up something I desired did not come naturally to me.  Self-denial can be a faint and peculiar melody to our ears, at odds with the “Go ahead, you deserve it” refrain that dominates our culture.

I first remember hearing it when my high school Catholic friends asked me, their Protestant friend, what I would be giving up for Lent.  On many levels I had no idea what they were talking about or what that grey stuff was on their foreheads.

First impressions stay with us. My early encounters with Lent were through classmates in grade school. Lent consisted of denying yourself something, such as sweets or cursing or slugging your brother. This was a worthwhile endeavor. Sometimes basic assumptions came under scrutiny. Once Lent was over, of course, the ban was lifted and you could go back to doing whatever you pleased.

I grew up loving to play basketball. I played in a junior basketball league and was always looking for a ball or something to shoot at any possible target. I even used to throw wadded paper napkins at the fruit basket designs on the wallpaper in our kitchen!

As winter begins to soften and Lent is upon us, my mind turns toward a funeral I recently attended.  I wonder if I might take this time to talk about the passing of one of the most beautiful humans I have known, Bill Vaswig.

The forty day journey to Easter that Christ-followers make each year is called Lent, from the Old English word that means “lengthen.” The days are lengthening and our souls are invited to lengthen also. By that, I mean we are invited to journey from where we are to a more complete version of who God created us to be. We do that through the disciplines of Lent, which are fasting, almsgiving and prayer. Here are some suggestions on how to lengthen your soul this spring:

One of my favorite Christian vocalists is John Michael Talbot. One of songs I love the most is Holy Darkness. “Holy darkness, blessed night, heaven’s answer hidden from our sight.”

Lent is all about abstinence—not doing things that prop us up.  If I don’t eat chocolate, what will I do for joy?  If I don’t talk too much, how will I be noticed? If I don’t shop, how will I feel?  They’re all about learning to be sweet when I don’t get what I want.

It’s hard to believe that it’s March already. Time seems to have sped up somehow in 2011, or maybe it’s just that I’ve had a full calendar so far this year. Either way, I’m looking forward to this month’s Conversations blog theme as a way to slow me down, and remind me Whose calendar I’m truly meant to be ruled by.