Clearing our minds, resting our souls
Busyness is a part of life. It is inescapable and on a large scale unchangeable if we are to be productively engaged in today’s fast paced world. Technology intended to free us up for more leisure time and simplify life has more often than not only increased working hours and raised levels of expectations. We are better equipped and more tired than ever.
A recently retired executive said to me that the most challenging part of his work was finding time ”just to think,” to allow things to settle and to be more contemplative about day to day decisions, the quality of life and work, and planning for the future.
This reality of busyness, of demands that prevent us from necessary reflection on life and work, has been true for a long time in different degrees. As Senator and Episcopal priest John Danforth points out in his latest book, Faith and Politics, which I heartily recommend, it was a fact of life for Jesus and his followers. In the story of the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus and his followers had hoped for some time off in a quiet place. Instead, they ended up feeding a large crowd and even cleaning up afterwards. Sound familiar in any way?
Enter the Church calendar and the season of Lent. As busyness has been part of our life for a long time, so has the Episcopal Church calendar, which provides for us cyclical rhythmic seasons as an invitation to tend to our spiritual needs and overall well-being.
While some see Lent as a burden that simply adds to our demands, that is not the intention. Lent is intended to be an invitation, a gift, if you will, to change the pace of life at least for a little while. The special season of Lent is patterned to open the way and provide guidance for us to have the time essential to think, to let things settle a bit.
Acknowledging that for some of us the word discipline has negative connotations, the truth is that the customary disciplines of Lent – self-examination and repentance; prayer, fasting, and self-denial; reading and meditating on God’s holy Word – are for us and not against us. These are traditional practices aimed to promote our health and wholeness.
Single-handedly we cannot change the world we live in with its high demands and expectations. We can, however, use the tools the Church gives us to clear our minds, rest our souls and prepare ourselves for life of greater depth and peace. Taking time to do so this Lent, even in short segments, may well be the path to welcome Easter more joyfully and experience new life – Resurrection – more personally.
May God’s blessings be with you and those we lead, love and serve in this holy season.
