Lenten Thoughts - Week 5

Being faithful means more that just 'believing right' or 'thinking right.' Thoughts and stated beliefs only go so far. Until your thoughts and beliefs are embodied in your life, your faith doesn't add up to much more than an idea. In other words, you have to do more than think the think. You've got to walk the walk of faith. In Lent, we're challenged to get walking. We're invited to intentionally add things to our daily routine that bring us closer to God and also to intentionally remove things from our regular routines so as to open up more room for God to enter our lives. Lent is about allowing God to take the wheel of our lives. It is about getting out of ourselves. It's about letting go and letting God. In our Eucharistic prayers during Lent we say, "God, You bid your faithful people cleanse their hearts, and prepare with joy for the Paschal feast." These words have caught my attention this year, because I know there are many ways to cleanse the heart, and I am encouraged to think that my Lenten preparations are to be done with joy.

So this brings me to Steve - who this week stopped thinking about the rotting corner of our porch and decided to get to work. He's been thinking about it since we moved in last summer. He's looked at it from many angles. He's drawn up diagrams and made supply lists. He's considered the many options. But this week, suddenly, he said, "You know, pretty soon the bugs will be out. I'm just going to do it." And from morning until after dark he went at it. He set up the circular saw, he went to the hardware store, he pulled out all of his beloved power tools and dug in.

There's nothing my husband loves more than a handyman project. It's a way that he gets out of himself. It's one of his 'timeless' activities - those things that take you up so completely that you just lose track of time doing them. This happens to me whenever I write or sew. And I believe that when you do the things that you enjoy so much you lose track of time, you are closer to God. After all, God planted our desires and talents within us in the first place. So even though it's common to think of Lent as a time to deny yourself, maybe spending more time doing the things you really love is one way to practice Lent. It's a way to fast from your usual "have to's" and to make room for God to enter your life through creativity and timeless joy.

So, inspired by his porch project, I think I'll put other tasks from my to do list on the back burner this afternoon and go out and start working in my yard. Pruning is definitely one of my timeless activities. I hope I will find God, and God will find me out in the overgrown forsythia bushes.