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Lent as a Path of Transformation · Infinitely Precious

• 0:00
  Intro: Welcome to the Infinitely Precious podcast produced by Infinitely Precious LLC. Your host is James Henry. Remember, you are infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are.
• 0:12
  James: Hello, beloved. It's good to be with you again. It's me, James, and I had some thoughts that I might share with you. The day I'm sharing these thoughts is on, Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. Tuesday is also known as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras.
• 0:33
  And, it's a it's it's right before the beginning of that forty day season that leads up to Easter for people who follow the path of Christ, in the Western tradition. And so those forty days are often days that we think of as self denial. They're a period of time. They mirror in some ways Jesus spending forty days in the wilderness, fasting, kind of discerning with greater clarity what his ministry to the world would, look like because he came back from that forty days and immediately launched into his public, his public work. And so in, in the path of following Jesus, we often take forty days leading up to Easter to sort of, do some self examination, do some, do some fasting of some kind.
• 1:37
  And rather than fast, try to give up on food for forty days, we often give up at a representative symbolic item. A lot of people I know do things like give up chocolate or beer or something that, they enjoy during that period of time. Sometimes it's not a food, which is where the fasting thing came from. Sometimes it's a particularly favorite, television show or it might be television altogether. It'd be hard to give up the Internet altogether if you have a job and work.
• 2:11
  But, they let go of something. They let go of something. They practice that releasing, for those days as a sort of I think to some folks, it's a sign that, of just how devoted they feel that they are to, to the divine by letting go of something, by giving it up, by saying, god, you're always more important to me than that chocolate bar or that cupcake or piece of chocolate cake, whatever it may be. It it's an opportunity to step back. And each time we crave that thing, to remind ourselves why we're doing this.
• 2:52
  To figure out in part as we give those things up, what are the things in our lives? The self examination is an opportunity for us to say, what is it in our lives that really matter? Where are the places in my life that I feel God present, especially present, when I feel sort of a divine spark, strangely warming me up? When I'm, you know, when I'm having a conversation with a neighbor and and we're talking about something that matters to them and I'm listening to them and encouraging them and they're encouraging me and I walk away from that and feel like, wow, somehow, God was present in that moment. It's also as we self examine to say to ourselves, where are those moments in our lives?
• 3:35
  And it's like, that's a moment, you know, when I'm yelling at my neighbor, when I post something mean on social media or whatever it is. That's a moment when I look back and I don't feel so close to God at, you know, in this particular instance. It's an opportunity to just kind of step back. And self denial is often a part of it. At least it it has been for lots of people I've known.
• 4:01
  Some people take up a practice during that period of time. Rather than giving something up, denying themselves, or fasting off of that particular thing during the period of time, they commit or set an intention to do something different, to act with greater hospitality or kindness or patience. No matter what it is, this upcoming period of time is sort of a shortened version of what you imagine or hope for might be your whole life. If you can for forty days, find a practice, it might be giving something up, releasing something that's unnecessary in your life, or it might be taking something up to test and see how it fits with you. It's an opportunity to explore what are the kinds of things I can do that might bring greater transformation into my life, that might help me become kinder, more loving, more gentle, that might make me less reactive, and more responsive so that all the stimuli that come my way don't make me just immediately jump back.
• 5:23
  This season, we do it once a year in a cyclical fashion because we are a forgetful people. We sometimes forget why we do things. And when things aren't going quite as we expect them to, a little bit too chaotic, uncertain, then we find ourselves lashing out. And this is an opportunity once a year to kind of step back and say, what really matters to me? Who am I really?
• 5:57
  And, if I say that I am a follower of the path of Jesus, how does that show out in my life? Am I really mirroring the kind of life that Jesus lived? None of us do that perfectly, and perfection is really not a good thing to aim for anyway. Do your best and be learn to be good at it, to be regular in it. That's, that's, I think, the root of it all.
• 6:33
  I I I always echo back to the first chapter of Genesis where god made as god was making everything out of the six days, at the end of the, the first four times, God looked at the day at its completion and said that was good. And at the end of the sixth day, said it was very good. Not it was perfect. It was good. So we aim at that goodness, not in order to earn, a sense of connection to God or earn God's love because you but you already have God's love.
• 7:08
  I already have God's love. We are already infinitely precious and unconditionally loved by God. We're a gift as we are as a piece of all that God's doing in this world. It's about it's instead about kind of letting go of the things about which we're kind of willful, that we're certain we're right all the time. Letting go of of, whether it's a food item, whether it's some other practice that we need to let go of, or maybe it's a practice we need to take up.
• 7:48
  It's an opportunity to experiment, recognizing that as forgetful people, there's always a chance, there's always a chance that we will forget to be kind or patient or loving. And perhaps if we're more careful to reflect on the moments that we feel closest to God and the moments we feel furthest away from God, we'll have the opportunity then to really be transformed, to be changed in these forty days. So whether you do it perhaps by denial, you know, giving up the chocolate bars, whatever it may be, Whether you give up something in your life that's not food, you know, I've known people who've given up all sorts of things, television, the Internet, their cell phone. I you know, all of those things seem like they're harder to give up than they might have been at one time. Maybe not television, but, the Internet is our connection to the world.
• 9:01
  It's hard to imagine giving up all those things. But they give up something, or they take up something, a meditative practice, or daily prayer practice, daily gratitude practice, where they say thank you on a regular basis. Whatever you choose to do in this upcoming forty days, I encourage you to do something to remind yourself of who you are, to reinforce the things that you love about your connection to the divine, and to look for those things in your life that make you feel like your relationship with the divine is very dissonant, very broken, very tangled. And maybe practice letting go of those things. You know, if you use this period for maybe self denial, but certainly for self reflection.
• 10:03
  Perhaps you'll discover something about yourself that you love and that you love to do and that you recognize as God's gift to the world in, through, and as you. And you could live that out more fully. Just a thought. So I challenge you or at least invite you to consider a forty day period of transformation through self examination and letting go. And see how it goes.
• 10:35
  Maybe you will take up something in the midst of that that will become a part of your life in a way you could not have imagined. That might change your perspective on all things. It's worth a try. And if it doesn't work this time around, there's always next year, perhaps, for Lent. Or you could try a different forty day period that works for you.
• 10:59
  In any case, no matter whether you try it or not, whatever you do in the upcoming days, remember you're infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are. And until the next time, I wish you all the very best.