How to Eat an Elephant: Practicing Lent

Ahhh, it’s Lent.

I’m not going to lie: yesterday, Ash Wednesday, was a little rough for me.  Perhaps the melancholy came as a side effect of spending an entire, 12-hour, professional day thinking about sin, but I found myself tearing up as I recited over and over again: “The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever…”. 

Thank God for that, because while there’s a whole Lenten season stretching out ahead of us ripe for the practice of all the good habits put off due to the pace of life the rest of the year, frankly the very thought is a little overwhelming.

You know what they say about eating an elephant, though.

So, to begin with the first bite, I thought I’d put up a blog post, because I love writing and I haven’t been doing it here on my blog lately.  And, it’s Lent, so I’m beginning. 

One bite at a time.

“To be strong does not mean to sprout muscles and flex. It means meeting one’s own numinosity without fleeing, actively living with the wild nature in one’s own way. It means to be able to learn, to be able to stand what we know. It means to stand and live.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estes