Sunday 1st March - Lent Inspirations

 Angela Almond, who hosts 'Pause in Advent', is hosting 'Lent Inspirations' over at her blog, 'Tracing Rainbows'.

Here's my two-penn'orth....

Once again I was inspired to do all sorts of things to mark Lent;

Give up playing wasting time on Freecell
Celebrate Ash Wednesday in some way

Go to church every Sunday
Read a suitable book every day
Read some Bible every day

and so on.

Four days in and I have failed on every count except Freecell, and that has had some near shaves.

This is a very good thing; it means I cannot begin to feel any kind of pride or self-satisfaction that I have 'kept the whole of Lent'.

I am, however,  reading a daily reflective email/post written by Suffolkvicar, Rev Andrew Dotchin It comes into my 'inbox' every day, so that's easy. I have even acted  upon some of his suggestions, clearing space in my diary, sending thank you letters, pondering various suggestions.

In the post for Day 1 he gently says

Perhaps [you should] not be too fierce in prosecuting your Lenten disciplines], be ready to let go of the ones that don’t help and maybe change tack as the Way unfolds, discard any Lenten discipline that diminishes our relationship with others.  For there is no gain in polishing up our discipleship if it mean another soul feels weak and unable to continue at our pace.

Well, yes indeed. After all, who was it who chose the Lent disciplines' for me? Me! So it's more than possible that I might be on the wrong track. Or trying to follow too many tracks. at the same time.

This year, I think Lent may be about 'less' as in quantity of activity, will be 'more', as in quality of activity.