When Life is Lent

Your life is Lent. I see that online. And, and that was really true for me for a couple years. So I just wanna address that. If this is you, if you’re going through a very painful season in your life right now, and, and pretty objectively, the life circumstances  are difficult. So when we think about the purpose of Lent, I really want you to imagine Jesus leaving the city, walking away from the city. 

And choosing to walk into the desert. There’s such a visual  sense of that, right? You can imagine, you know, an Israeli city, whatever that looked like back then. And then as he’s walking away, there is just an expanse of land and he’s walking into the desert where there are no buildings and no people, and he does it willingly and on purpose. 

And  it’s such a symbol of not being  too tied to the world, right? He’s saying, I’m leaving the world behind, and I am going  to walk in the desert to prepare for the work that God is asking me to do. Detachment is so necessary for deep communion with the Lord. And if you just think about it, if you are holding a bunch of things in your arms and then, and God wants to give you a hug, you’re like, oh Lord, hold on.

I’ve got like my car and my house and my kids, and all these things, and you’re holding them  and they’re good things, but they’re preventing you from giving the Lord a really big bear hug. And it’s okay that we have things in our lives that we love and enjoy. I just think our God is such a good and loving father and he wants us to love and enjoy things here.

He just doesn’t want any of them to be more important than him, and so I think Lent is such a good time to  look at the things that we are attached to and often. The things that we are attached to that we give up for Lent. If you just think of the common things, they tend to be related to vice. They tend to be related to, you know, over drinking, over scrolling, overeating,  just things that we know that we have become kind of addicted to. 

And this separation for 40 days allows our brains to kind of dissolve some of those addictive pathways and, and remember, oh, okay, we’re okay without those things. And it’s important to show  yourself and your brain. You’re okay. Without these things. You don’t need these things. 

But for the people  who are. In a serious amount of pain, and I’m talking like you’re going through chemotherapy. For me it was the bedrest lens, right? The lens where my body was in so much pain and I was in bedrest, and in those moments I wasn’t like, it wasn’t the time for me to give up sugar or screens, right?

There was so much pain in my life that I really felt that the purpose of Lent for me in those times was to just carry that cross better with less complaining, with less resistance. So sometimes I think God chooses what we’re going to experience during Lent. And by all means, if you feel like you have the capacity in a difficult season to also practice detachment from a worldly thing, go for it.

But I’m talking about. Perhaps talking to the moms who have something pretty significant going on in their lives, and then they’re feeling bad that they’re not also giving up sugar or screens or something like that. And I just wanna speak to those moms and say, you know, you’re carrying something pretty significant. 

And I think, you know, if you’re one of those people. Right?  It’s not like, oh, I’ve had a cold for three days. That’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about pretty disruptive life things, where you’re just, you’re carrying a pretty heavy cross right now, and I. I also don’t think life should just go on as if you’re not in Lent, where you’re like, Oh, this is so hard.

And that’s my Lenten thing. And then we’re not thinking about it. We wanna anchor ourselves to a lenten practice every day. And I just think if you have a very painful thing, it’s like I said, it’s receiving the cross, having acceptance around it, carrying it well with grace and charity, really working on your attitude. 

And, and choosing. We want to feel a sense of choice, I think, in suffering. And a lot of times the suffering itself was brought on, not by choice, but we can carry it well by choice, you know? So let’s say you’re having one of those pregnancies where you’re just throwing up every day  and you. Sit with the Lord and you’re like, all right, this is what I’m doing for Lent.

I’m gonna grow this human for you, and I’m gonna throw up every day, and I’m gonna realize that even though I feel so weak and vulnerable, and it’s unpredictable when this is gonna happen, that you are enough for me. Lord, your strength is enough for me. Your love is enough for me, and I will do this for you. 

You are asking this of me, and I will do it. See how intentional that is and you’d have to manage your mind around it all the time because your toddler mind is gonna, you know, kind of feel sick and like you wanna throw up. And initially our thoughts are like, this sucks, this isn’t fair. This is gonna be forever. I don’t wanna be doing this.

Right? When we were pretty pouty in our minds. But the Lenten work, your Lenten work is to just receive that cross  and just say, yes Lord, I am here. I will do this. But does it make sense for that mom who’s throwing up and her life feels so out of control to to harp on her about screens?

Not that any of us are harping on each other, we’re doing it to ourselves, but I just mean this mom is gonna see other moms who aren’t going through this and realize, I just don’t want her to beat herself up by thinking she’s not doing enough, because it’s not an like air quotes extra Lenten thing. 

So for some of you, what you are going through in your life is your Lenten journey. It is your desert. It is so painful that you are also learning to not be attached to anything but the Lord 

When all we have is the Lord. We realize the Lord is all we need. And some of you are just really into that. Very difficult, kind of a dark night of the soul, extreme suffering place. And the pain is really real and the suffering is real. We just don’t wanna add on top of it by resisting it and thinking it shouldn’t be happening. 

So again, I think the Lenten practices acceptance. And this like willingness, this beautiful kind of Marion attitude of, you know, I will do this for you. I love you so much, Lord. 

And if you know anyone who is in a difficult season, send them this podcast. That’s one way I think we can build each other up by just saying, I see you and you are  in a rough season, and  maybe nobody’s told them that  being in a really rough season can be their Lenten journey. And you’ll know if you’re phoning it in. 

And I want all of you to ask yourself that too, right? If you’re just, if you pick something that  is little or easy for you to do, the Lord should convict you about what to do for Lent. And even though Lent has started, if you’re not sure or you don’t feel like it’s maybe the right thing, just ask him today.

Say, Lord, is this what you want me to be doing for Lent?  What do you want me to do?  What would you like me to stop doing and  realize that the purpose is for him to show you.  

What you are holding, what you are valuing, what you are lifting up in your life as important  more than him. And it’s not a surprise that most of the things that we give up for Lent are related to some sort of form of pleasure or comfort. I really think that it’s very easy to make an idol out of. 

Well, I talk about making an idol out of comfort and efficiency. I think those are very american things where we want to be super comfortable all the time and we, it really bothers us if things aren’t efficient, and so we chase efficiency like a golden calf. And it sounds so noble, like, ooh, don’t you think stewarding things well means being very efficient? 

Oh, but it’s, there’s so much gray area in there, and. If whatever it causes us to lose our peace or not act charitably to ourselves or the people around us, then no, I do not think efficiency is worth it. 

And so I think comfort and pleasure are also just  things that  are so  easy to creep into our lives, and then suddenly they’re there and then suddenly we’re kinda. Holding onto them tightly, and we don’t wanna let them go. 

But then the Lord puts on our hearts, Hey, it’s time for you to let this go. Maybe permanently or maybe for a little bit. I’ve been, you know, just a little bit talking about how I’ve been giving up so many things on my phone since November, and I just finished all the research and all the slides for my, you know. Having less screens in your life course.

And  I just feel more and more convicted that we have got to get a better handle on that as moms and we’ve gotta fight for it and it’s not okay. It’s not okay. And we’re just, we’re letting it drag on this addiction that we have, and it’s keeping us from what we really want and we’re so aware of it.

And then we just feel, like, like a slime of, of shame on top of ourselves. We feel so shameful about our screen usage and we get to the end of the day and, and we feel bad about how we used our time, but then we just keep doing it. And you know, on the other side of it.

I feel so much better. I feel so much stronger. I’m so much more proud of how I spend my time and now I feel like I could stand up for the most part to the Lord and be like, okay, I think that is in check now. 

I’ll probably do a whole episode about my journey about that and. A couple slip ups, things that like snuck in and got me again. but  I think Lent is a really important time for us to find these insidious things that are just kind of quiet, but they’re very big  and they keep us from being holy. 

And they keep us from hearing his voice. I’m always teaching women how to hear God’s voice. And one of the reasons we don’t hear God’s voice so clearly is because there’s so much noise and there’s so much stuff in front of us, and there’s so much distraction with what we think is important and on that long list of things is not him. 

And then we wonder why  we don’t hear his voice and he isn’t guiding us. So make sure that with conviction you are really challenging yourself, this Lent. But for those of you that are going through extraordinary life circumstances, very hard things, you know, I want you to just know that, that might be what God is asking you to do. It’s just to carry that well for him.  

And he’s saying, I’m just trusting you with this and I need you to carry it. And  that will require great effort. It will require great effort to manage your mind and to not complain and to not have a bad attitude  and to not resist it. 

And it doesn’t sound very sexy when you tell your friends, right? Like if your friends are like, Hey, what are you doing for Lent? And you’re like, I’m just living my life, but trying to not complain about it. That may not sound as glitzy as some of the other ones, but. I would certainly celebrate you. I would be like, girl, yes. Carry that cross well.

It takes a great deal of effort to do that, but I think it is such a good and holy and noble work  and I think you will know if you’re one of the moms that needs to do that. Alright, my friends, I’m praying for you. Please pray for me. Thank you so much for listening and have a blessed day.