Each Lent, my practice of deciding how and what to give up for Lent begins with questions. Here’s one: Where do I go to escape? Even more interesting is figuring out the second question: What is it I’m trying to escape from?
Maybe we practice Lent to give us tools for when life is hard and confusing. Maybe we practice Lent so we can know how to look behind the things on which we lean so hard…to the things we really need to see. Perhaps we practice for the times when our comfort isn’t willingly relinquished but taken from us. In your Lenten practice this year, consider stepping away from some of what feels normal, even comforting to you. Try sitting with the questions about what you may need from your time in the desert this year. Ask God to direct your eyes to what you need to see.
This message is excerpted from “Giving up” by Cara Strickland in the January/February 2022 Gather magazine.
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