I don't know about you, but as I get older, the whole business of doing a better job with my life seems to become more important. Paradoxically, as I learn to be more dependent on God's grace, the Holy Spirit urges me to be more creative and determined to put a God-pleasing life into practice. Lent is such a practice time.
Last night before going to sleep I was reading The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, an alphabetical collection of their short stories, and I came across these words by Anthony the Great:
Whoever hammers a lump of iron, first decides what he is going to make of it: a scythe, a sword, or an axe. Even so we ought to make up our minds what kind of virtue we want to forge or we labor in vain. (8)Anthony's good advice, of course, can apply to the whole of our lives or in a smaller way, with a smaller lump of iron, to our Lenten forty-day window of time. Personally, I usually prefer to work with shorter time slots; they seem a lot more manageable. Many Lents ago, for example, I used to try and give up bad habits like smoking cigs (yep, forty years ago I puffed a pack or more of unfiltered Camels every day) or put off delightful habits like savoring a good glass of wine or beer. Sometimes I decided to add a decent habit to my life; one year I promised myself I'd walk or jog a mile or two every day. One year in February I jokingly announced that for Lent I was "giving up lawn-mowing." Those were the days--of Lent.
Lately, however, I find myself expanding my sense of things. No doubt my bigger vision has much to do with simply getting older. Who knows? Maybe I won’t even be around in forty days! Then too I may live to till I’m eighty. If I make it through the next ten years to a nursing home, I’m quite aware that, over the years, time will fly by awfully fast, nearly at the speed of light. Right now a year goes by, and it seems like two weeks. So maybe I’d better think of my Lenten discipline as “starting on Ash Wednesday and from now on, Andy!”
If you know me, you realize that I don’t like spur-on-the-moment decisions. O yes, I have to make them when June cries out, “Put on the brakes, you idiot!” But if at all possible, I prefer to weigh things in the balance and come to a decision after considerable musings. Applied to this year’s Lenten discipline, that means it’s really not too early to explore the possibilities as to whatever I do with my lump of iron as I get ready to bang on it.
Today, you might say, I'm lighting the first in my forge and looking over my blacksmith tools. In the next few days I’ll be making some suggestions about shaping some lumps of iron, yours and mine. This afternoon, however, after considerable thought, I’ll simply share with you the plans I'm developing for my upcoming Lenten forgings. These forgings will have, I think, mostly to do with my environment and God’s creation. Shortly said: my forgings concern the care of the earth. To that end my Lenten discipline will include the following:
- a room by room assessment of my home to figure out what choices I can make to walk more lightly on the earth
- a “spring-time” re-examination as to my lawn practices and garden care
- an evaluation of my use of electricity and gasoline
- reconsiderations about my purchases of goods and food
- the making of a list of "creation-care" commitments I plan to embrace at home and wherever I travel
- a posting of these commitments on the refrigerator and car dashboard as daily reminders
These are my first scratchings about my 2008 Lenten discipline. I'll include these musings in my daily prayers. As I make my assessments, re-examinations, evaluations, lists, and postings, I'll share some of my discoveries with you soon.
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