Dear Friends in Christ -
The purpose of Ash Wednesday is NOT to drag us down into the dumps, but to remind us that we need GOD to lift us up out of them. We gather on this day to pray prayers of repentance and then to receive the absolution that will release us into a fresh open space with God, where new things are possible.
Lent is a time for "VACARE DEO" - that is, finding space for God. The whole point of the Lenten disciplines of praying, fasting and giving is to open up things inside us so that God can fill it with more and more and more goodness (He has a lot to share!).
This afternoon, someone sent me the link to an online calendar that I am certainly going to be following this Lent. Here's the link: http://www.bustedhalo.com/features/fast-pray-give-2010/
This Lenten Calendar is on a site called "Busted Halo" . . . sounds right up my alley!
Today, this calendar inspired me with the following:
"FAST from rushing through your day without noticing the beauty around you.
PRAY that God might show you something beautiful that you hadn’t noticed before.
GIVE some time to enjoy a piece of art or a nature scene."
This shook me out of some of the weighty notions about what these disciplines are about, and nudged me into remembering that all this Lent stuff is supposed to fill us with enough hope and peace to take us THROUGH the agony of the Passion TO Easter joy.
May your repentance on this day of ashes be sincere, that you may be prepared for what God has for you next.
With you in this work of VACARE DEO,
Janet+
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