lenten check-in, or, dealing with doldrums
The ol' Lenten commitment has been under pressure the last several days, due among other reasons to the fact that I'm struggling my way through a Very Boring Book. Very Boring Books make *anything* sound appealing by comparison, including irrelevant or excessive Internet usage. I have yet to backslide too extensively, but I can see the trend progressing, so I'm posting this as a public statement of renewed commitment. On the plus side, I'm now on p. 155 of VBB, which puts me over the halfway mark as it is precisely 300 pages long. (Believe me, I've checked. Several times.)
Be they Lenten commitments, household appliances or relationships, things that are shiny and new are much easier to maintain, aren't they? It is when things transition from new and exciting to longterm conditions that maintenance becomes more difficult. My husband was once fanatical about changing the vacuum bag... recently, not so much. I know I have a tendency to take things (and by things, I include relationship things as well as thing-things) for granted. The beauty of a 40-day commitment is that it is short enough to continue some level of mindfulness but long enough to witness the beginnings of that familiar slip.
One of the challenges I experience as a Christian and a lifelong Lutheran is in finding ways to remain vital and engaged in my faith. Routine is familiar, and I admit I absolutely love a good rut, but over time comfort can give way to obligation, and obligation leads to apathy. I'm coming to the conclusion that I need to change a few things, although I'm not yet quite sure what they are.
We are blessed that God is bigger than our present worldview. God encompasses far more than we can ever grasp, and if my own life is any indication, most of the time we're grasping far less than we could in the first place. There is abundance there, if we are mindful in seeking it. And if we're in the midst of a VBB or elsewhere in the doldrums? I pray that the insight will come to make all things new once more. As Thomas Chisholm wrote, alluding to a passage in Lamentations:
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!
Be they Lenten commitments, household appliances or relationships, things that are shiny and new are much easier to maintain, aren't they? It is when things transition from new and exciting to longterm conditions that maintenance becomes more difficult. My husband was once fanatical about changing the vacuum bag... recently, not so much. I know I have a tendency to take things (and by things, I include relationship things as well as thing-things) for granted. The beauty of a 40-day commitment is that it is short enough to continue some level of mindfulness but long enough to witness the beginnings of that familiar slip.
One of the challenges I experience as a Christian and a lifelong Lutheran is in finding ways to remain vital and engaged in my faith. Routine is familiar, and I admit I absolutely love a good rut, but over time comfort can give way to obligation, and obligation leads to apathy. I'm coming to the conclusion that I need to change a few things, although I'm not yet quite sure what they are.
We are blessed that God is bigger than our present worldview. God encompasses far more than we can ever grasp, and if my own life is any indication, most of the time we're grasping far less than we could in the first place. There is abundance there, if we are mindful in seeking it. And if we're in the midst of a VBB or elsewhere in the doldrums? I pray that the insight will come to make all things new once more. As Thomas Chisholm wrote, alluding to a passage in Lamentations:
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!
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