Lenten Resolutions
Our good friend Kathy the Carmelite asks "ISN'T IT A LITTLE BIT EARLY......for Lenten resolutions to go kaput?"
The answer, of course, is, it's never too early--it's always just the right time. Our resolutions are meaningless if they don't well up from a spirit of serving God. I've often wondered about this tradition of setting ourselves up for defeat by promising things that we often can't keep. And then it occurred to me... It's the perfect tradition for Lent. In the course of our daily defeats in our resolutions, we become tremendously aware of how little we are capable of alone. We strive staunchly to do this and that thing, often neglecting the whole point behind it--taking shelter in prayer.
So Lent is a perfect time of resolutions, and for being very aware of our failure to follow them. It is a good time to realize that at least part of the foundation of our houses is built on shifting sand. These little defeats are a source of profound joy, because in them we can recognize our desperate need for Jesus and we can turn to Him, not neglecting our promises, but in the shelter of our prayer and conversation to the Lord, asking Him to assume the burden for what we have promised. And, mysteriously, it will happen.
