Intimidated or Not? - by Sarah

Lent can be intimidating.  It's a trek of 40 days through the desert and a time of penance, fasting, and repentance, which typically aren't ideas that fill us with joy and excitement.  With all it's difficulties and sacrifices, it can be easy to fall into viewing Lent as a burden or an inconvenience, and we start anticipating it with dread rather than eagerness.

When we take a step back and look at the big picture, though, something begins to emerge that isn't quite so unattractive.  The self-denial is still there, but we can begin to see it in a different light.  It isn't just suffering for the sake of suffering.  Prayer, fasting and almsgiving lead us down the road of letting go of the good things of this life and becoming more attached to the ultimate Good and source of our happiness - God.

We don't just practice penance and penitence for the sake of beating ourselves up over our failings, but rather because this is a time when God opens His arms even wider to receive us back to Himself as His prodigal children.  If we can learn to see Lent as a time we're privileged to have to draw closer to God, it can become a time of resting in the arms of the Father who never wants to be separated from us.

Yes, Lent is a trek of 40 days through the desert, but when God is our goal and companion along the way, it isn't quite so intimidating anymore.