Lent often lends itself to deepening the soul. We often try to omit things from life believing it will somehow create a deeper sense of meaning for us. Lent often beckons the soul to searching... in our desire to find meaning we participate in those things we think will draw us closer to the creator... the source... God. We give up what we believe gets in the way of us living a truer life with meaning and hope.
In many ways I like Lent. It offers an opportunity to gain perspective. There aren't many times during the year that lend itself to reflection and perspective making. Sure... these activities can and do happen at other times, but Lent seems to focus humanity a little more forcefully to looking at the soul. Even those who don't have any faith practices are often times influenced by those who participate in a Lenten practice as a way to deal with the mid to late winter blues. Especially those of us who live in the cold and snowy north.
So we practice Lent. We take intentional time to reflect. It's a time for introspection and learning and a time to grow closer to our self and to God. Dr. Wayne Dyer states, "human beings need to expand the soul... To develop a way to draw closer to our source... our creator... our God... as a way to experience real life." Of course... Dyer isn't necessarily talking about the Christian faith, but he is on to something I believe Lent offers those of us who are Christian. That being...the desire of God, is for humanity to come close to God. Dyer goes on to say we are created with a bit of the divine in us which he believes is the key to experiencing a greater reality of life in the here and now.
As Christians... we believe this to be true. We believe we were created and God made humanity in God's image (Gen. 1:26). In Gen. 2:7 God took some soil and made man and breathed life into the man. So... I believe it is true that within each of us lives a bit of God. A bit of the divine that seeks the divine. And each of us has this pull of the soul that yearns for something greater than ourselves. Something that provides hope, meaning, and understanding. Something that is often missing in our very full and busy lives. The reality is that the divine is not missing... we've chosen to crowd it out with other things.
So... we experience Lent as a way to expand our souls towards the divine in hope that we will discover our true self's and live a more real life. Lent can do this... but there is a cost. For the soul to expand towards God... the fake self... the phony self... the ego of self must die... it must leave so that the soul might reach out and take God's hand. Jesus says in John 12:25... "If you give up this world, you will be given an whole new world to live." This is the expansion of the soul.
As you continue to live this Lenten season don't reflect so much of what your giving up or missing... think of it as drawing closer to the divine within your soul and reaching out to grab hold the hand of God as you begin to live a more authentic and real life.
