Lent Planning - 2013

O My Soul, Your Voyages have been my Native Land.

~ Nikos Kazantzakis

With Lent starting this Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) it is time for some pre-trip planning. Just like before a voyage is taken, the crew sits down and does some preparations and planning, so, too, are we going to discuss some topics to get us thinking about Lent. It is your choice how much planning you want to do, maybe just deciding on the direction is enough (North? South? East? West?).

The forty days of Lent (we don't count the Sundays, as Sundays are always little Easter's, the Lord's Day of Resurrection) is a time of preparing for the Resurrection and for Pentecost. Where are the parts in your life that you would like to have Resurrected? Lent provides an opportunity to explore new areas of your life - establish new ways of being and doing - new habits of the spirit and your greater life.

Just as a concert pianist puts herself under the discipline of the art: practicing daily, learning new music, working with others (the rest of the symphony, the director, etc.), so, too, can we put ourselves under disciplines.

I would invite you to start with the above reflection: Where and What in your life is calling out for Resurrection? After spending some reflection upon that question, ask needs to change in your life to allow that to happen?

Perhaps you would like to feel better connected to the environment (this watery world on which we dwell) and so choose to not use your engine this Lent with the idea of learning to sail in and out of situations, and become less fossil fuel dependent. Maybe you decide to replace all of your lights with LEDs that use a fraction of what your halogen bulbs are using. Maybe you decide to spend Lent eating only local foods. Maybe Lent is calling you to purposefully re-connect with other people: family, friends, co-workers.

Rather than thinking of Lent as a time of giving something up (although you may want to do that, too), Lent offers a chance to create new habits of being.

May these habits of being, pull us closer to experiencing the Divine's grace blowing through our lives.

Blessed Be,

Joel