Lent offers time, tools to get bearings

Now I recognize that the prospect of “Living Lent for Life” could be less than popular, specially if we consider Lent a season we simply have to get through. And if we do, a life term of Lent would be like having cold water thrown on our plans for life. Not at all a welcomed thought.
Just thinking about that image brings to mind the once common Camp Cross practice of having one or more campers run the water gauntlet. A tradition which for some good reason—and there always was one—required campers to run a path directly below the Dining Hall deck while staff members dowsed them vigorously and all too readily with buckets of cold water.
It was a fun event that even those dowsed enjoyed. The object, of course, was for the runners being to get through the gauntlet as fast as possible. That part, getting through it fast and untouched, is not unlike the way we might from time to time approach Lent. Something to get through.
Today, in these remaining days of Lent, with Holy Week approaching, I propose a different take on this holy season, one that is filled with potential for life—inviting and abundant life.
In doing so I am indebted to a teacher who recently referred to ” Google Maps” as a model for life. For those not familiar with it, Google Maps is a computer program that gives directions to a destination. To work effectively, the program requires two things: A starting point—knowing where you are, and an ending place—the destination. Both are essential.
So what has this to do with Lent or life you ask? Well simply this, if we know where we want to go—our goals, our dreams, our vision for what God is calling us to do, our life’s purpose where we find fulfillment, then we must first know where we are. And Lent offers the time and the tools to do just that, to be introspective, through prayer, self-examination, and more, to come face to face with ourselves seeing where we are, spiritually, relationally and vocationally.
Through God’s grace, we have a community to join us and support us in that effort. If you find the thought of living Lent for life distasteful, then think destination—the call, the dream, the potential graciously given us. Like any journey worth taking, it is essential to have a destination, and the odds of getting there increase exponentially if we first know where we are.