Lord, teach me. . . .

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self. –Aristotle Lent, by its very definition and nature, is a time for serious introspection. Many people take this season as a time to eliminate a bad habit (like smoking or overeating sweets) or undesirable activity (like swearing) from our day-to-day life. That’s really great, since doing something for forty days just may make it a permanent change. The downside is, with so much focus on repentance and sinfulness, it can be easy to look in the mirror and only see the miserable sinner looking back. The negatives, it seems, are always easier to focus on; in so doing, if we are not careful we can be really hard on ourselves. We can forget that God doesn’t “score” us the same way we (or the world) score ourselves. Remember that magic word, grace ? The word that reminds us that God’s Love is unconditional, and not based on what we deserve? Rather, God loves us b...

Letting go doesn’t mean you stop caring. It means you stop trying to force others to care.  –Mandy Hale We are about halfway into Lent, the 40-day period when Christians reflect on the time Jesus spent in the wilderness and his ultimate crucifixion and resurrection. Maybe you’ve chosen to make this Lent a time of quiet introspection. Or maybe you’re trying to see these forty days as a tithe of one year of your life, giving something up as a sacrifice to God. What began as largely a Catholic practice is now commonplace even among non-Christians, as people choose to give up a bad habit for a season, in hopes the change might last a lifetime. Have you thought about rethinking your attitude? That instead of giving up something for Lent, we choose to think of it as letting go ? Let go of speaking too quickly or impatiently. Let go of an old resentment or broken relationship. Let go of insisting on doing things “my way or the highway.” When we let go of things that hold...

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.  –Charles Spurgeon There are many people today, from the White House to the corner grocery store, who are upset about the way the media are reporting the goings-on in the world. Do your homework , they say. Get your facts straight! Whatever happened to the Five W’s? (In case you’ve forgotten: the Five W’s are Who, What, When, Where and Why . And their companion How , as well.) When it comes to understanding the world, we are all expected to ask questions, to seek the truth —and we expect others to do the same. Many times, my mother would send us to look something up if we didn’t understand it, and I am grateful she did. Enquiring minds, after all, want to know. But so often when it comes to Scripture, we are told simply to accept or believe “on faith.” No need to ask questions, just trust in God. God will never steer you wrong. While that’s true, it’s also not. God gave us brai...

When walking, you see things that you miss in a motor car or on the train. You give your mind space to ponder. –Tom Hodgkinson I learned this year of a Lenten custom known as “burying the Alleluia .” On the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, many congregations, especially those with children, find creative ways to literally bury the Alleluia in the ground, and for the forty days of Lent, no songs with an Alleluia refrain are sung during worship. This serves as a reminder that Jesus was buried in a tomb and left for dead. Just as Jesus is resurrected on Resurrection Sunday, so then, too, is the Alleluia lifted from its resting place. Typically, we rejoice in worship by singing Christ the Lord is risen today! Alleluia! Our fasting is finished; our hearts are light. The implication is that during Lent, we should be sad. Our minds should be filled with thoughts of despair. All in all, it can be a pretty dark time. But maybe we aren’t called to be sad, but reflective. Maybe...