Friday after Ash Wednesday

A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on. Never will a time come when the most marvelous invention is as marvelous as a newborn baby. Carl Sandburg

If Sandburg hadn’t written this I could, not so eloquently, but certainly with a similar emotion. Allen and Lila Kelley joined our family this last couple of months and no words can express the joy and wonderment I feel. All five of my grandchildren teach me a great deal -- Food is necessary, but it doesn’t have to be a gourmet meal. Staying warm is important, but the simplest of blankets does just fine. Nothing is more comfortable than being held closely by someone who loves me. “As a baby I don’t need to be lectured, I don’t understand words anyway. I just want you to be there.” The analogies can go on and on. Each person can add their own.

But somehow this marvelous invention becomes distracted by the complex. As they grow up she/he becomes lost in a world of needs and demands. Young children resist at first, trying to cling on to simplicity, but life takes over. Jesus said about children, “ ... it is to such as the kingdom of God belongs.” So perhaps this Lent we should be as babies. Eating but not needing a gourmet meal. Seeking warmth, but avoiding the pull of Madison Avenue to buy fine linen. Seeking out those in our lives who simply hold us close and do not judge. With our friends, neighbors, and family listening not lecturing.

If we do, we might just become as marvelous an invention as a newborn baby.

Thursday After Ash Wednesday

There are half a dozen things, tops, that you can do on the subway: think, observe the people around you, doze, listen to music, read — things we should all do more often. -- Laura Esther Wolfson, Proust at Rush Hour.

We recently moved, and I had to exchange my bus ride for the Red Line Metro. Although the Metro is a much more convenient and faster trip downtown, I was actually anxious about giving up the familiarity of the passengers and the route above ground I had been taking to work for the last 7 years. Our lives are so full of uncertainties and anxieties we cling to our comfort zone whether it is good for us or not. Lent calls us to rid ourselves of some of the old habits that bring us comfort, but are keeping us from exploring a new route in our lives.

We are all anxious about where our country finds itself, and especially anxious about all those people who find themselves out-of-work or lost their retirement and/or savings. But during this Lent and beyond we should find new and exciting routes for our neighbors and ourselves. We might find God has been calling us to do something else, not just to save a little bit more and spend a little bit less, but more importantly to notice and observe our neighbors and find ways to bring them comfort. Now I emerge each morning from the underground to a day full of promise and opportunity. If we begin this Lent to explore new opportunities for ourselves and ways to help our neighbors then we will all emerge from the doldrums of anxiety.

Remember God chooses each and everyone of us. Our choice is how we respond.

Ash Wednesday

The winds of grace blow all the time. All we need to do is set our sails. -- Ramakrishna

Sometimes during Lent we meditate, fast, and pray simply because we are taught to believe that is what we are expected and should do. We give up for 40 days chocolate or wine, thinking that we will become closer to God by making a modest and brief change in our eating habits. Although I do believe that fasting is an important discipline during Lent, the Lenten season can be much more meaningful experience than a chocolate craving.

I am not belittling how difficult it is to give up something for Lent. In fact, I have broken my Lenten discipline more than “Carter has pills.” My failures remind me of what Mark Twain wrote — He (Adam) did not want the apple for the apple’s sake; he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent — then he would have eaten the serpent.”

I am also not a sailor, but I know that to set the sails it takes work. I have been out sailing enough to respect and admire the preparation and effort it takes to set the sails. I also know the pleasure that comes, when properly set, the wind takes over and one flies across the water. This Lent we know what it takes to set our own sails right. It involves work, but there is no greater experience than to catch the winds of God’s grace.