Remember the long way that the HOLY ONE your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness... Deuteronomy 8.2
They teach me about patience and the importance of rest. They teach me about listening and the importance of play. My dogs remind me to stop and smell the flowers while loving me with their entire being at all times.
Today my Golden pals taught me something about Lent.
The photo above is of two leashes but one dog. It tells the story of Chloe and Tecumseh—the former wise in her age moves a little slower, intentionally, and the latter full of spunk, eager to greet anything and anyone walking by us. Chloe saunters; Tecumseh sprints. Chloe smells those flowers, Tecumseh chases leaves. Chloe rests on her throne in the bedroom; Tecumseh wrings the bell to go outside 1000 times a day because he thinks the squirrels are mocking him!
Lent is here. We are six days into our 40+ day journey into the wilderness. As we enter deeper into the season of returning to Love, walking in the wilderness of liberation, remember to go at your own pace. Our spirituality and faith formation is not a competition. It is about naming what separates us from Love and then returning to our Original Name. If you gave something up, good on you! My prayer is one of strength for you in this journey. If you took something on, way to go! My prayer is one of courage for you.
Whether you took something on, or gave something up, or opting out of Lent altogether—my prayer for you is one of gentleness and mercy. It's like what mystic and poet Mary Oliver says:
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Finally, a word about opting out of Lent altogether.
We've been in this pandemic now for a year. As the covid related deaths near 500,000, it is a bleak reminder that over the last year—since last Lent—we've had to give up a lot. All of us have sacrificed so much of ourselves that the idea of taking on or giving up something seems more life-draining than life-giving.
And that is okay.
Go at your own pace. Walk the wilderness path in your own time—resting on a bench when you need to, sitting beneath a tree to gain perspective, or letting the wild beasts and angels wait on you. Lent is a season first and foremost about reconnecting with the Divine and Her presence within you.
Right now, Tecumseh is outside looking up at those squirrels barking at him from the powerline. And Chloe, she is snoozing at my feet as I type this blog. Both doing what they need to do—while reminding me that life lived from a place of 'both/and' is far more entertaining and joyful than one lived from the false binaries of 'either/or.'
Remember, you are God's Beloved...
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