Requiem for Lent

Though I did not intend to, I gave up blogging for Lent. No, I had no great spiritual qualms or moral machinations regarding my weblog. I just couldn't find the time to write, or even think enough to write, for that matter. My daughter taught me a lot of valuable lessons during the past season. For example, I've learned that my unconscious decisions reveal more about myself than my most thoughtful efforts. By intention, I stopped drinking coffee during Lent. Without meaning to, I stopped blogging, and I think this was the more significant hiatus. Before explaining why I think this is the case, I must say a few more words about Lent.

For whatever reason, I've reflected a lot about the meaning of Lent this year. More than one person I know has admitted to me that their Lent was not very Lenten. At least one has confessed that they believed their Lent to be a failure. What could this mean? Someone tells themself that they won't eat chocolate, and they indulge a few times...therefore, Lent was a waste?

Absolutely not. The spirit of Lent is not one of moral or spiritual achievement. I think we've lost the plot when we make Lent about our efforts to be better by not doing X or by doing more of Y. For of course, our frailty does not impact the success of Lent. In fact, Lent begins with our self-recognition that we are but dust. But, we are dust on the way to redemption.

For this reason, during the forty(-six) days prior to Easter, we open ourselves to God in preparation for the work of His resurrection. Abstaining, fasting, praying, and alms-giving are all means to let God effect His resurrrecting power within us. They are not the point of Lent. Rather than focus on these spiritual disciplines, we should see through them, into the deepest, weakest cracks in our souls, and learn where God will begin working next.

However, too often we think that Lent is about being better than we usually are by making a more concerted effort. So, in preparation for Easter, we become more stressed, slightly edgy (due to caffeine withdrawal), crankier (no more sweets), inattentive (from the hunger pangs), and/or just plain hot and bothered. And this is if our ascetic endeavors succeed! If they fail, we become morose, self-pitying, cynical losers. Obviously, I exaggerate here for effect. But the point is, when we experience any of these sentiments, we know that we're off the mark.

I don't think Lent is supposed to be a more spiritually hectic time, or a season of last-minute efforts (save the strain for Christmas, thinks a sardonic Christian). On the contrary, we should recall that Lent is about giving up. In other words, give something to God so that He can use it to teach you; offer your weakness in order to find God's strength; cease your busyness and receive God's peace. This is why my break from blogging was so revealing to me: I enjoyed resting, not worrying about keeping some artifical schedule to post another entry. (As an aside, this was spiritual rest more than physical...my daughter still keeps me quite active.)

And so I have entitled this post, "Requiem for Lent." Yes, I am laying Lent to rest in a sense. But I also want to call to mind that we should be seeking rest during Lent. Certainly this does not mean a passive, inattentive rest (like the disciples in Gethsemane). It is the kind of repose that led Christ to pray, "Not my will, but yours be done."