One Week Until Lent!
I've been pondering the above quote since happening upon it in a book yesterday during my morning reading. The sentence called me up short and stopped me in my tracks. How many patterns do I continue to repeat, mindlessly moving from one to the next, in some sort of unreflective circle dance?
The more I thought about it, the more I recognized my own recipe for repeating patterns:
A bit of drama here.
A pinch of self-criticism there.
A dash of self-justification.
A splash of selfishness.
Sprinkle liberally with guilt.
Add a bundle of self-righteousness.
Stir with pride (often disguised as "humility").
Bring to a boil with manipulation.
And presto!
Something I've tasted time and time again --
Regret.
Perhaps Lent isn't as much about giving things up
As it is about changing things up.
"Instead of making anything new, the ego simpy repeats patterns."
-- Sonia Choquette
The more I thought about it, the more I recognized my own recipe for repeating patterns:
A bit of drama here.
A pinch of self-criticism there.
A dash of self-justification.
A splash of selfishness.
Sprinkle liberally with guilt.
Add a bundle of self-righteousness.
Stir with pride (often disguised as "humility").
Bring to a boil with manipulation.
And presto!
Something I've tasted time and time again --
Regret.
Perhaps Lent isn't as much about giving things up
As it is about changing things up.
posted by FrGaryB | 12:42 PM
2 Comments:
There is something I think I should say in reply to what you said here, I'm just not entirely sure what that is. With all the political unrest here in Wisconsin, all the definitive side taking, myself included, I am finding myself not knowing what to say or when to say it. I find it very hard feel God's pleasure though all of this.
So what I can say is I fully agree with what you have said here. I am not totally sure what my secondary focus will be during this Lenten period, but I do find peace in knowing what my primary focus will be on. Thanks be to God.
Brad...thank you for your honesty. These are indeed difficult times here in WI, regardless of which of the available "sides" one finds oneself occupying.
I think what I'm feeling increasingly called toward is to "do my own work" first before I issue summary judgments about others...this is a difficult stance when it's so much easier to prescribe for others what "they" should/shouln't be doing. Holding forth on this thing or that is an occupational hazard for clergy...but if we do that without attending to our "stuff", we can easily get confused...and it seems to me such confusion is the ego's playground. You are in my prayers, brother!
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