So how has Lent being going for you so far? Feels like it has been going on for much longer than it actually has huh? :-) Something about "Holy Disruptions" comes to mind .... but more on that later.

For now I'm just going to copy & paste and entry from a friend's Blog and my comment/response to his entry, just as something to think about and possibly share your thoughts about.

Jeremy, in his original post had written (in part):

As each of us discuss these items with our families, friends, and congregations; as each of us explore our own relationship with the Lord, let us ask ourselves why it takes a time in the church calendar, like Lent, to reflect on these things in our lives. Why is it that we can give up things in our life that are particularly not good for us anyway, yet pick up these "bad habits" again after Easter? Why is it that we can work on sacrifice, prayer, and reflection during Lent, but the rest of the year it seems to be less of a priority...for some? Why?

I am not perfect and, at times, I have felt somewhat hypocritical in this post, because I too am challenging myself to do things and live ways I should be living everyday of my Christian walk. As I step into the Lenten season, I too am a lemming. I will be reflecting more than I usually do on a daily basis. My hope: to understand the challenges that I face. My hope: to have the courage to trust the Lord enough to not just breathe a sigh of relief on Easter Sunday, but that I continue forward with my choices and reflections. My ultimate hope: to live any changes I made during Lent every day for the rest of my life.

During this Lenten season, are YOU going to be a lemming with a purpose, or just a lemming doing what lemmings do?

I found this to be a very good question and a thought provoking post and my comment to his entry (with some correction for typos) was:

Hey JD!

Thanks for the thought provoking post and my thoughts so far (in no particular order) are:

* That maybe it is not so much a "lemming"-like action that happens to us at Lent but more one of the reality of our human condition manifesting itself during the season. That deep down we yearn to be better, to do better and this is the one time that we think it is possible. Even if for just a short time. There are those of us that are perhaps now shrugging of habits that we have tried, time and again, to let go of and are now where we are going to try to let it go for just 40 days in the belief that this season is a special time and that somehow, God provides a special grace to let us do so.

* Kind of tied to the previous thought is this - that perhaps it becomes a doorway to permanent change. That perhaps every time we come to this season of Lent and come to this place of letting go of self and turning away from our desires, we are changed there. The change might be more subtle for some and for others, more poignant. We may find that some of us go back to our old habits after Lent but then find that we are not as comfortable there as we used to be. Somehow in our observance of Lent, God has touched our hearts with something more significant than we had before and we are no longer satisfied to be less than He intended us to be.

* That deep down, we all struggle to be better people and we feel that at this time, in this particular season, we have a reason to try. We believe we will not be alone in our struggle to do better and somehow because we know that, the burden does not feel as heavy as it might at some other time. The thought that there are other people praying, giving up stuff and having a go at something similar to that which we struggle with somehow makes it easier to deal with.

That's it for now. It should have been a short comment but somehow it became a post on its own :-)

Blessings,
Deji.

You can read the original post and other comments on Jeremy's Blog. I pray that in this season, as our routine is disrupted and upended, you see God's grace at work in the middle of it all and that we let Him use this time to re-shape us back into what intended us to be.

Grace & peace,
Deji.