Lent

Today is the beginning of the 2015 Lenten season.  For the past five years, I have used Charles Fillmore’s “Keep a True Lent” as my guidebook for this sacred time of cleansing and renewal.  Fillmore’s book offers readings, Bible passages, and an affirmation for each of the 46 days of Lent.   As a supplement to “Keep a True Lent,” I also use the Lenten booklet published each year by Unity Worldwide Ministries.  In the days leading up to Ash Wednesday, I’m always looking forward eagerly to beginning my Lenten practice.  I’m excited to revisit the concepts in the Fillmore book, and I’m excited to see what new ideas are posed by the contributors of the Unity booklet.  Each year, I discover something new that I didn’t notice about the readings in the years before.  Each year, I discover something new about myself, as well.

Unity minister Rev. Ed Townley describes the Lenten season as a time for spiritual and emotional spring-cleaning.  This is the first time I’ve ever looked at Lent in this way.  As Rev. Townley says, just as we accumulate physical clutter in our homes over the course of the year, we also accumulate mental and emotional clutter in our minds.  And so just as we take the time to spring-clean our homes, we must also take the time to spring-clean our minds.  Lent is the perfect time to begin this cleansing process, as it opens us up to the power of Easter and the resurrection of the Spirit.

To go along with the theme of spring-cleaning, Kathie, one of our Unity members and the head of our Beautification Team, brought to us the idea of “de-decorating” our Unity sanctuary to symbolize a kind of simplifying, which is the basic theme of the Lenten season.  I love the idea of marrying a physical de-cluttering with a mental and emotional de-cluttering, as a way of preparing one’s mind and heart for the glorious Eastertide.

I have a lot of different ideas and goals running through my mind at this time of year. My 365-day experiment is coming to an end.  My study of the Twelve Powers is just beginning.   The part of me that is anxious for Spring feels obligated to be busy, busy, busy with creative activity.  But the cold, dark winter has me feeling so sluggish that I can hardly keep up with my regular daily obligations. Something tells me that this Lenten practice- a practice of simplifying and de-cluttering and becoming still - is exactly what I need right now.   I wonder if I can set aside all of my do-do-do-ing and just be-be-be for the next 46 days.   It's soooooo not my style, but I’m going to try - because I think there might be something for me to learn here.

~REBECCA