Journey through Lent

Pondering, March 6, 2013

After attending the Ash Wednesday service I begin to reflect upon what does this season of Lent really mean for me.  We often think of giving up something for Lent to help us remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. I don’t think anyone could give up anything in their life that would represent the sacrifice Jesus made but at least for me it has always been a feeble attempt.

One year I decided to give up Caffeine for Lent.  It was about the third day into the Lent season my administrative assistant came into my office and said, “You know I don’t think God would mind if you decided to not give up Caffeine and gave up something else for Lent. I know I would not mind”.  I am not sure who was making the most sacrifice with me giving up caffeine.  I think she felt she was the one making the sacrifice.

You can also “add something” instead of “giving up” during Lent.  When I was living in the Atlanta area and faced the traffic every day I had a policy of letting one person into the traffic each day.  So I decided that I would “add 2 people” a day.  For those of you who have never driven in the traffic during rush hour that might not seem like much to you.  But when it takes 45+ minutes to go less than 10 miles it does become a sacrifice. Well at least for me it was a sacrifice.

As I have tried to continue to grow in my spiritual journey my Lenten journey has involved into different experiences.  I have come to see not so much the “giving up” or “adding something” aspect of Lent but more of the inward reflection of what Lent means.  As we go through the 40 days which leads up to Easter I want to become more aware of things I need to be doing on a daily basis.  In this journey I have become more aware of what it means to be in tuned to my inward journey of thoughts and actions.

I have come to recognize for me that Lent is more about paying attention to the little things in my life.  I recognize that I need to pay more attention to:

1.  My relationship with God

2.  My relationship with others

3.  My relationship to myself

As I ponder and attend to these things, my prayer and hope is that I will come to a sacred place of journey that will help me improve in the three areas.

During Lent this year I plan on doing random acts of kindness each day to develop relationships with my family, friends and to people I do not know. In doing these random acts of kindness I want to challenge myself to become intentional in paying attention.

My goal is to become more intentional in inviting God into my daily life activities and come to the place where I don’t strive to “do” more but to “be” more.

As you ponder your Lenten journey, do you also find the need to be more intentional in the sacred places of your life to pay more attention?