Calendar Tyranny and Lenten Decisions

The calendar is telling me it is time for Lent. You have to be kidding me!? There are way too many things to do, and far too much on my mind for me to choose, let alone pull-off some sort of fast.

Yet this day continually gets shoved in front of my mind.

• First a friend speaking of what she and her husband were thinking of fasting for lent. It can't be that time already?!  
• Then the news of early parades and parties in New Orleans, where they stretch out the windfall of Fat Tuesday's exuberant excessiveness. Ugh. 

And now, it is Monday. And I am in no frame of mind to choose what to lose. So maybe I should just begin thinking about Memorial Day preparations instead?

Wait. As I labor over the issue, it becomes obvious to me that I have no habits that need trimming away! Every pattern of my life is well ordered, and every indulgence is well deserved, thank you very much.

Oh, how I wish that were true. So I visit once more a lesson from  Barbara Brown Taylor, in her reflection entitled "Settling for Less." And once again, it helps. It helps in a lenten sort of way. I encourage you to read it HERE.  I dare you.

May you and I be aware of our journey. The calendar is telling us, it's time.

David