Crossing the threshold of this holy season, I renew my gratitude for the gift of being alive.
-Thomas Merton
This Wednesday, many Christian denominations will celebrate the beginning of Lent. Ash Wednesday marks the 40-day journey to Easter, a time of preparation, purification, cleansing and renewal.
Many people associate Lent with the requirement to "give something up," which equates to suffering and deprivation. Through this lens, it's easy to dismiss the season altogether. Six weeks into the new year, on the heels of resolutions and intentions and trying to embody our words of the year, who wants to entertain the idea of making things even harder?
Well, you know us, and we're not here to talk about sin and repentance and such. We're here to invite you to capture the energy and the potential this season has to offer. Thomas Merton reminds us in his book Lent and Easter Wisdom, that Lent is our "Holy Spring," a celebration of birth and death and all the life in between. As we move into spring, these 40 days offer an opportunity to nurture whatever in us is asking to be born or reborn or resurrected.
For this Exprayeriment, make a list of what you are saying "Yes" to for the next forty days. Let the "Yes" guide your actions, let it move you to a state of grace, a place of fullness and potential. For example:
If your Yes is to bring more spaciousness and order into your life, you might be guided to clean out a closet or two or get that three-year-old stack of filing sorted out.
If your Yes is to be more available to the people you love, you may be guided to get more creative and efficient with how you spend your time.
If your Yes is to dedicate yourself more fully to a creative project that's asking to be born, you may be guided to take some small step every day to make it possible.
You get the idea. One simple question: What's my Yes? Follow that thread through these next 40 days and you will surely have something amazing to celebrate on Easter. :-)
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Don't forget to stop by the Project You page to catch up with Sarah Hawkins' latest: Let Go and Let God and How Many Eggs Can You Hold?