I have a love-hate relationship with Lent. I love that it's a season where I can travel to the deep abyss of my soul and have permission to deal with the ugliness of my heart. I can commiserate with those who are experiencing the same pains, sins, and woundings. I despise Lent because in my pea-sized brain I'm petrified that in 5 days I'm suppose to be coming out of this season and happily stuff my face with pink, purple, and yellow marshmallow rabbit-shaped Peeps.
I'm not ready to celebrate Easter and the thoughts of everything being wonderful and cheery because my heart is definitely not painted with crayola-colored pastels. Can I push the snooze button on Easter?
1 comment:
I don't think the seasons of our hearts are required to match the church calendar. (And Peeps are kinda gross anyway...) Some years, the best I can do at Easter is remember not to despair; that however far off it looks from here, Resurrection and Redemption come at the end of the story.
There's a grim side to hope, at least in my experience, that I don't find much talk of in Christian circles--a dogged, tenacious clinging to what we know of the truth when there's no comfort or emotional payoff to it. I think that's where hope and courage blend together.
Maybe we tend to treat Lent too much as a cathartic ritual that's supposed to move us through whatever crap that's happening to us, so we can be all tidied up and pastel-colored after a few weeks.
Thanks for your honesty.
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