Skip to main content

lent, not lint

says it all - the grotto

It sticks to your clothes and shows up splendidly on black, it gets caught on the screen in the dryer and socks elaborately decorate your toes with the stuff.  Yep, lint:  the fuzzy, ravelings of fabric that cling to everything; like Velcro, only different.

Lint actually has a purpose.  By scraping it from linen it can be made into a soft, fleecy fabric.  Cotton staple – lint fibers – are spun into yarn.  While all of this is riveting, especially while staring at the lint in your belly-button, there’s more to Lent than its sound doppelganger.

lint: fluffy, minute shreds of yarn
lent: a season of preparation

These two tiny words sound similar in our vernacular, but have massively different implications in our lives.  We clean-up lint and toss it in the trash.  Lent, however is a prepping time for us to realize we’re not great at cleaning up our own stuff.

Lent was originally a season between winter and summer, now called spring.  The snow would melt, clouds blow away and plant life would begin to bud and grow.  Eventually, the Church adopted it to be a time to get ready for Easter and the resurrection celebration.

Most commonly people give something up, doing penance to make up for their faults, you know, all of the crap- junk we do.  But, remember, we can’t really clean ourselves.  Sure, we can determine to be nicer, share more with others and do random acts of service, pay it forward.  For those things to have true impact, it takes a heart change.  We need the grace God has in mind to be dumped on us.

ash wednesday

The Father suggested that we have “do more - do less” postures during Lent.  Things like do less whining and complaining and do more encouraging.  Much less grabbing and grubbing for ourselves and tons more giving to others.  Laughing and trusting are much easier than worrying.  We can’t really change situations by worrying, no matter how hard we try.

With this type of thinking in mind, I’m doing some checking on my soul; “what condition my condition is in.”  Complaining?  Sometimes.  Being selfish?  Stink, got that one.  Trusting?  Oh, man, that’s rough.  I like, ummm, love, control.  My soul and life aren’t a total bag o’ you know what, but the bag does have odds and ends that should be chucked like the lint picked out from between our toes.

As a result of taking the lint roller to my black t-shirt, I’ve chosen to add something specific to my God-walking life during Lent.  It’s a “more-thing.”   

So, here’s the dealio, can you be bold; peeking into your secret self, to search for lint during Lent? 

I wanna be a “do-more”…. in a God-way!

Missy


If you have been mildly amused, challenged or inspired by what you have read, please pass on my blog to a friend, colleague, family member or even random acquaintance





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Good morning, lab rats!

One of my favorite movies is “A Good Year,” starring Russell Crowe.  It’s a fun little romp through the South of France, filled with wine, romance and very poignant moments of clarity. Max, is a driven, pompous business man who is willing to use, abuse and finagle his way to the top, and then gloat.  He is never satisfied with his accomplishments.  "Good morning, lab rats,” indicates his ‘tude. Fanny, on the other hand, is a bicycle wielding, passionate woman.  She is suspicious, short-tempered and very jealous, yet content with her way of life; minding the business of others. The storyline is obvious:  opposites attract, love blooms and then blows up.  Reflecting on the vast difference in their existences, this dialogue is uttered: Max:   This place does not suit my life. Fanny:  No Max, it’s your life that does not suit this place. Makes me wonder how many times I have said no to things because it didn’t fit into my prec...
4 comments
Read more

wishing flower, vulnerable and beautiful

do you see a weed or a wish? Let’s just say, I’m not an early morning girl.  Those who know me appreciate this and quietly leave me alone until I’ve had a chance to emerge from my pre-coffee zombie state.  However, there is a bird glee club that begins at about 3:30, yes in the morning.  It’s lovely and melodic; leaving me no choice but to listen.  Translated, this means I’ve been up before my norm.  The youthful hours are warm, but fresh; they beg for a walk, and so does Isabella. Yesterday was a little cooler so our pace was speedy, at least for my little legs.  We passed cars and bushes and bugs zipping around … and the rejected weed. pulled up by its roots discarded wishing flower tossed aside left at the edge of the sidewalk the sun beat down life ebbing from the slender stalk, leaves drying, privately curling desperate to hold onto being funny , how I noticed the thrown-away on a morning walk my thought to stop and ...
6 comments
Read more

urban girl in the country

green in concrete For the last lot-of-years I’ve lived in urban areas.  I’ve become a city girl with hints of a flower child mixed with hipster nuances…translated I like to wear skinny jeans.  This is the total opposite of how I grew up, which was on a farm.  My paternal grandparents grew, raised, caught and hunted for everything they ate – radical organic, free-range stuff.  On my Mom’s side of the fam tree, there were green grocers and orchard growers.  Heck, I was in 4-H raising feeder calves and a small flock of wooly sheep.  Gardens, canning, freezing and preserving everything was the ordinary. I carried on the gardening-preserving, saving the spoils piece, until I found myself in fresh veggie-at-a-farmer’s-market heaven!  The foreign city I found myself in had a temperate climate where fruit and vegetables could be grown year ‘round, and … it was sold at a giant open air market every week.  Yippee!  I no longer needed to ...
8 comments
Read more