Growing up I loved celebrating Mardi Gras and Lent. We celebrated Fat Tuesday with pancakes smothered in syrup with purple green and yellow decorations adorning the parish hall!
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I once celebrated Lent by giving up Baby Ruth candy bars, my absolute favorites. Setting them aside for six weeks didn’t mean I wouldn’t come back for them; it meant it was time to let them go to make space for other things. It felt amazing to walk to the store after school and not reach for the candy.
Years later I traded my Lenten discipline for abstaining from Target. In motherhood, I started getting into the habit of stopping by Target with my minivan filled with three kids. Walking the shiny aisles dreaming that organization was one plastic bin away. It was good to stop that illusion for 40 days.
Today I abstain from chips for six weeks and then on Easter have them as a side dish!
This year with Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day falling on the same day—for only the third time in a hundred years—the balance of feasting and fasting is poignant.
It may feel like an oxymoron, but it is sheer poetry when you think about how love’s crowning achievement is laying down one’s life for another.
Wednesday will be a good day to reflect on where you are on the path that pierces our hearts with arrows, fires us up for justice, and brings us to our knees in gratitude.
-- Becca Stevens
Originally published 2/13/24