Let This Season Be Different
“O Lord, make this Lenten season different from the other ones. Let me find you again. Amen.” ~ Henri Nouwen
Nouwen knew something that most of us know as well though we are reluctant to admit. Lent is a “mandatory” season. By that I mean that it is a season that comes upon us annually and it brings with it a set of expectations: giving up things, doing positive good, fasting, abstinence, and the like. Lent brings those expectations but it is we who fill them. We can either accept the expectations of Lent with a sense of duty or with wholehearted joy.
If we accept what is expected of us with a sense of duty, chances are real good that the season will not do much for us. As a matter of fact, it might frustrate us. We don’t like giving up favorite things. We don’t like sacrificing. We don’t like doing a lot of things for others. Lent, then, wears at us and even gives some people reason not to engage in the actions of the season.
If we accept what is expected of us with wholehearted joy, Lent becomes an opportunity for continual improvement and refreshment of the soul. There is a lot of good will created when people do things for each other out of the goodness of their hearts. There is a lot of spiritual growth that happens when people dedicate themselves to prayer. There is a lot of awareness that takes place when we open our eyes to the plight of others.
Lent wants to change us. It wants to change us for the better and not for the worse. It can only change us according to the disposition of our hearts. Let us see it for the positive nature that it is and not begrudge its challenges.
FAITH ACTION: Examine your Lent thus far. Make whatever changes you need in order to draw closer to God this day.