Rethinking Lent

I've been giving it some thought. Lent. What it would look like to observe Lent this year. I came to Lent as an adult, and as a practice completely outside any corporate expression of faith I was involved with, so I'm not hung up on the varied details depending on which tribe you worship with. The common idea is one of fasting or denial, as Jesus did in the desert before his public ministry began, to focus one's energy and thought on God. Carnival and Pancake Tuesday were created as occasions to feast and use up the foods which would be fasted during Lent, to get them out of the house and not have them go to waste. There is much to be said for fasting foods. But something a friend said opened my thinking. She was discussing Lent with a co-worker who had decided to invest in herself and de-stress for Lent. Now I suppose one could think of this as a bit selfish, and perhaps even counter to the spirit of Lent.

But maybe not. Maybe the thing standing in the way of us hearing His voice are the lies we tell ourselves. Unconsciously. Repeatedly. Convincingly.

For 40 days, could you give up:
-calling yourself 'stupid' when you make a mistake
-calling yourself 'crazy' when you're losing your sh*t
-comparing yourself to others to make yourself feel good
-comparing yourself to others to make yourself feel bad
-telling yourself that you'll never learn
-telling yourself that you deserve the abuse
-telling yourself that the abuse you hand out isn't so bad

I wonder. I wonder if Light would shine brighter if we weren't clouding things with the lies. You know, it would be much easier to just drink water for 40 days and make a donation to blood:water mission. And maybe we should do that too.

What's really standing in the way of radical Love?
Fast that.