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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


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