Somehow, it snuck up on me this year. I'll blame it on Easter coming early, but it was almost a surprise this morning when I realized that today marks the beginning of Lent.
And so, I don't have a planned practice to observe - no fast, no specific readings, no habit I want to cultivate. I feel a bit of guilt admitting this to you - I should have been more prepared, given more thought to how I would enter this season, put some prayer into being intentional about the forty-plus days until we celebrate the Resurrection.
I could institute something quickly, spur of the moment. I've come to love and appreciate this time of fasting and sorrow in the past several years, and I know how valuable it is. I could make a last minute decision.
But I don't think I will. Somehow, for me, it doesn't seem quite right this year. I'm not sure why that is, exactly, and those who come from a more liturgical background than I do might look at me askance for such a choice. It is not my intent to be flippant or to shrug my shoulders at this very important time in the church year, but I have not given the time and thought to properly choosing a fast for Lent, and it seems like one more thing, like something I might add for the sake of adding without really having any heart behind it.
And so I don't think I will.
What about you? Observing Lent this year? How?
While we're on the topic, Sarah has some wonderful thoughts up at her blog today.
We are observing Lent as a family, but I haven't chosen any specific fasts or additions for my own life this year. I feel like I am in the middle of a nine month lent, and taking on anything else just might sink me. And I think God understands that. Observing some basics together as a family is important to me, though, because of how much the children absorb year by year. I don't want to miss that learning opportunity for them.
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