Lent is two days away. That usually means penance, abstinence, suffering. Or so we might think.
If the thought of Lent this year makes you feel weighed down, oppressed even, as if the practices are just one more thing to “do,” then it may be time for a gentle reboot.
Let’s return to the basics. Lent is preparation for Easter. It is the heart’s offering, the slow winnowing of whatever keeps us from Easter joy. And Easter is the great renewal: Christ pouring his unimaginable life and love into the world.
But here’s the deeper truth—this renewal has already begun in us. We received it at baptism. Which means Lent isn’t about striving for something we don’t yet have. It’s about uncovering a gift already given. It’s about awakening to Christ who offers himself to us today.
And the most natural response to a gift like that is prayer.
But maybe even prayer feels like work right now. Maybe it sounds like another discipline, another obligation.
Remember when you first fell in love. Was it “work” to talk to that person, to make time for them, to be near them? Prayer is simply being with the One you love. If it feels like labor, perhaps the invitation is to step back and listen for the quiet longing beneath the surface, the desire for renewal already stirring in your own heart.
Lent begins there: in rediscovering your need for Christ, and letting that need draw you toward the One who is always making you new. Helping you fall in love again.
Smitten With Goodness 