Wednesday of the First Week in Lent

If you can't have what you want, want what you can have. -- Solomon Gabirol ( I also think it is a line from a Rolling Stones song.)

We are as happy and joyous as we make up our minds to be. Lent helps us frame that point-of-view. In a similar sense, we make spiritual renewal about as easy or difficult as we want it to be. If we focus on being deprived, if we view praying and going to Church as a burdensome time commitment, spiritual renewal is no less needed -- just more miserable. There are better ways to be miserable.

Spiritual renewal with joy in our heart works a lot better. As the Good Book says, “When one performs a good deed, she should do so with a cheerful heart. " And make no mistake spiritual renewal is one of the best deeds of all -- we are saving our own lives.

A cheerful heart is a more willing one. The part of us that resists our Lenten discipline, the part that prefers the negative -- that is the sick part. There is so much that we can have, so much that we do have. And the option to smile joyfully is one of them. If your day goes wrong, remember that you can save it -- and you -- with a smile.

Webb