Rhythms of Lent
Click on the links below to create your own rhythms for Lent.
An Invitation
Seed Catalogues, Honeybees, & the Patient Kingdom of Lent
Two things signal the beginning of spring in my house: Lent and the arrival of my Seed Savers catalogue. A few weeks ago, we inched the minivan down the hill to our mailbox. Our country roads rarely get treated, and I pumped the brakes to avoid the ditch. When we reached the end of the drive, the boys jumped out, skated over to lift the mailbox, and handed me its contents: doctor’s bills, political ads, and car dealership promotions. In the middle of all the junk mail was the seed catalogue. From the cover, a honeybee glowed in the center of a giant sunflower. Immediately, I flipped through the pages, circling my favorite things: rainbow carrots, neon calendula, golden beets. Before long, I forgot the icy roads and began to dream of spring. I began to dream of Lent. They have a lot in common. Dirt. Short, cold days. Opened earth. Some years, I enter Lent like I start my garden, with a manic energy. Soil sample kits, garden charts, companion planting print-outs. In the spiritual counterpart, I order daily Lent devotionals, plan epic fasts, and find buckets of prayerful energy. But some years, winter takes its toll. The ground is hard, and I enter Lent weary. Bruised and beaten up, I haven’t ordered a single pack of seeds or landed on a single spiritual practice. I’m just standing here — looking and wondering, drawn to the colors on the page. Perhaps you're ready for Lent. All your garden tools are neatly in a row. Or maybe you are entering Lent a bit hungover, disoriented by the cold. Either way, there is something here for you. The Gardener is in no rush; His is a patient kingdom of seedlings and sunsets and slow-growing Brussel sprouts. Feel free to enter the garden of Lent slowly. No need to skid off the road. Flip through your life and circle your favorite colors on the page. There are weeds to be pulled (fasting). There is cool water to drink (prayer). There is a harvest table to set (giving). But whatever waits, you are free to look for it slowly and let the Gardener take the lead.
RESOURCES FOR LENT
Podcasts. Songs. Words. These are a few of my favorite things for celebrating Lent.
FOR LENT 1966
Madeleine L'Engle
It is my Lent to break my Lent,
To eat when I would fast,
To know when slender strength is spent,
Take shelter from the blast
When I would run with wind and rain,
To sleep when I would watch.
It is my Lent to smile at pain
But not ignore its touch.
It is my Lent to listen well
When I would be alone,
To talk when I would rather dwell
In silence, turn from none
Who call on me, to try to see
That what is truly meant
Is not my choice. If Christ’s I’d be
It’s thus I’ll keep my Lent.
THE GARDENER
Mary Oliver
Have I lived enough?
Have I loved enough?
Have I considered Right Action enough, have I
come to any conclusions?
Have I experienced happiness with sufficient gratitude?
Have I endured loneliness with grace?
I say this, or perhaps I’m just thinking it.
Actually, I probably think too much.
Then I step out into the garden,
where the gardener, who is said to be a simple man,
is tending his children, the roses.
LOOKING AT STARS
Jane Kenyon
The God of curved space, the dry
God, is not going to help us, but the son
whose blood splattered
the hem of his mother's robe.
