Start with the end in mind

    It is Easter day. The end of what sometimes seemed like a long lenten season. Lent is an example of a season that starts with the end in mind. Lent leads us toward Easter. The disciplines of prayer, fasting, attending worship and acts of self denial are the flagstones in the path we are paving toward a rewarding and heart felt celebration of Easter and the risen Christ. Acts of self denial and discipline are not often anticipated with relish. They are the hard work, slowly and incrementally, leading to the end, to the joy of Easter. Doing the things we least want to do , the things that are tiring and tedious and inconvenient these are the moves we make to inch our way toward that end denying ourselves the easy path today in order to experience the greater reward of the goal attained tomorrow.


    Remember the end while you are in the middle in parenting your children. Just as the third and fourth weeks of Lent are a low time so also are there low times in parenting. There are times in Lent when Easter does not seem to be in sight, but it is there just around the corner. When raising children it is so easy to think that it will last forever so what does one night or week of homework matter, what does  a little disrespect hurt? Just as the practices of Lent seems to work like compound interest, adding up rewards faster than you would have thought, so to are the rewards of staying focused on the task of raising children. Keep the end in mind. Strong, respectful, loving Christian men and and women of God are what we are striving for.  At the end the celebration will be as joyous as an Easter morning after a long lent.

Lenten Discipline - Public or Private?

   Last year during the season of Lent I gave up meat. It was hard. Harder than I had imagined. Breakfast sandwiches without bacon are really only toast wrapped around a scrambled egg. Not inspiring. Lunch was less difficult; it's easy to pick meat off of salads. My husband, who was raised believing that a hamburger patty is an appropriate side dish to ham, was more than willing to eat the meat scraped off my lunch. Dinner, now that was difficult. The difficulty was finding forty days worth of main courses without meat. The joy of macaroni and cheese only lasts so long. I bought a vegetarian cookbook, I searched the internet.  My family made clandestine trips to Burger King and Taco Bell. The Easter ham tasted quite good.

So here we are now a few days into Lent a year later. It didn't occur to me to give up meat, rather I have taken on a task for Lent. I am torn between sharing this commitment so as to be held accountable and keeping it private so as to adhere to the admonitions of Matthew chapter 6 which urges us not to be showy in fasting or praying or giving of alms, but rather to do these things in secret with only God as our witness. 

Because I am, for the most part, the cook of the family, last year it just wasn't possible for me to keep my Lenten discipline of no meat a secret. I felt uncomfortable with it being noted, yet I felt supported by my friends who made an effort to accommodate me. The ladies who come to my house for a monthly dinner brought vegetarian lasagna and salads. My dear husband, with whom I eat lunch everyday, was conscientious, though he did ask me several times if chicken was really considered meat. All in all the atmosphere was too public for me so as I write this I am convinced that it is better, for me, to keep spiritual disciplines between me and God.

Whether to share or not to share your Lenten discipline is very personal and also conditional on what it is you are doing to improve your self and to move forward in your walk with God. There is no right answer. Prayer and practicality will be our guide year to year.

Have blessed Lent,
Michelle