The First Day of Lent.
Brittany sat in her car outside of the church. The Ash Wednesday service was over and it was now Lent. She peeked into the mirror on her visor and saw the dark smudge of ashes on her brow. The shape of a cross and it stood out harshly against her winter white complexion. She bit her lip in thought. Before she started her short drive home, she wanted to think about the service a bit.
The service had been in three parts. The first part was an opportunity to reconcile herself with God. She mused about that. She loved her church, she loved the people there and the music, but it was true that she had not been making it to worship very much lately. She told herself that she had just gotten distracted with everything else in her life. –Sure, she was up and awake by 11 am on Sunday mornings. But then she realized that it wasn’t her busy life that kept her out of church on Sundays, it was her video game habit. It was too easy to just keep playing and let the time that she needed to get out the door slip on by for another week. She felt convicted as she sat there in her car with her phone in her hands. She whispered her apology to God and dedicated herself to attending church again. After all, some of the Jr. High School kids really looked up to her and needed her. Being someone to talk to about school stuff was really important. She remembered how tough Middle School could be.
Brittany’s mind then turned to the second part of the service. That had been about reconciliation with others. In her hands was a blue 3×5 card where she had written the name of her sister Madison. The worship attendees had been encouraged to take some time to write a note of reconciliation with someone. She had gotten as far as writing her sister’s name, and then she had stopped. What would she say? They currently weren’t even speaking to each other. They had gotten into a huge fight about her sister’s boyfriend. –She still didn’t think he was treating Madison very well. But not speaking to each other wasn’t going to make things better. She pulled up her sisters phone number and typed up a short text, “I am sorry for what I said, Madison. Can we get together to talk?” Holding her breath, she sent the text out with a prayer. Perhaps this first step would help.
The final part of the service had been about reconciliation with yourself. The pastor had encouraged everyone to write down what they were going to give up this year for Lent or what they were going to take on. While Brittany at first had thought about giving up carbs for Lent and doing the Keto diet again; she had quickly moved past that idea to something that she had done in the past that had been so valuable to her. She used to go running in the morning and she used to pray while her feet automatically kept the pace. She remembered how great she felt afterward, to have that quiet peace of her body and mind and spirit all in harmony. Her fears and all her concerns had all been left in God’s hands, and the rest of the day had felt open to a million possibilities. No matter what would come her way at work or with her family and friends, it seemed that she could handle it better if she had that morning run with God.
With her mind made up and already planning her tomorrow, Brittany put her car into gear and drove off into the darkness. Tomorrow was the first day in Lent, and she was definitely going to get some things back on track. She was really looking forward to it!