Ah, the beginning of Lent. I found out this year that Lent refers to the lengthening of the days, to spring! What an unusual yet uplifting meaning to the season I have so often associated with mourning and sacrifice. For years I have focused on examining my life to ferret out the sins and bad habits, to repent and be sorry for all the mistakes and intentional bad things I had done over the course of a year.
And it is important to do an inventory on a regular basis to see where you are missing the mark. How much more joyous to see this season as a time of preparation instead of a time of intense surgery. A time of hoping for spring to arrive with new life, a looking forward not to the suffering and death of Jesus with such sorrow, but beyond that not only to the resurrection, but to life eternal in heaven!
Maybe it is OK to think of this as time 'lent' to us to get ready for a grand celebration, a wedding, something wonderful! That is how I plan to spend Lent this year. In joyful anticipation of an upcoming life altering event that I can't wait to be part of and not a time of tribulation and suffering to beat myself into the ground for all my shortcomings. Lord knows, I have enough of those!
When I was a young child, I loved Easter morning with all the trappings - the new clothes, the great food, the visits from grandparents, the colored eggs. So this Lent, I will look forward to the celebration as if I were a young child again. How about you?
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