Along the Lenten Highway

In the last 72 hours I have been asked “How’s your Lent?” or “Are you sticking to the fast?” and before I can fire off a reply, the people asking the question say, “I don’t follow the exact fast.” Me, I’m thinking I just need to get to church, my prayer life is in the crapper and fasting? That is a mixed bag because of medical issues. The great thing is before I start down the road of random confession to a non-priest, I realized that I have a fellow sojourner who is struggling just like me.

Relief seems to be the first emotion that we share. Fasting stories about others or the time we followed the “strict” fast immediately follows. Then we talk simply as friends, Orthodox Christian friends. Looking to each other to help justify or comfort our own failings and knowing that it is only a misstep. The important point is to turn to God at each misstep. I have no answers, but I now have friends struggling on the same path.

It’s interesting we get wrapped-up in  fasting and forget the other part of the bible verse (augmented in the King James translation by the way) that it is fasting AND prayer. We should ask, “How is my prayer life improved/become stronger and what can I do to make/keep it stronger?”  This is where thinking like an athlete is handy. A boxer runs not to throw a harder uppercut but to last 15 rounds. He does pushups not for endurance but to get strength. They spar to get situational awareness, so when faced with a real fight, all that training pays off. It becomes instinct.

Yes, diet is one component, but so is a better prayer life, or a more intense one. If we share recipes of foods, we should also share prayers. Troy pointed out the prayer of St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow. That’s a example of how someone shared with me.

Turning ourselves to Christ is what love is all about. Talking about our trials together gets us talking and pointing in the right direction. Hopefully, I can take their inspiration and propel myself closer to Christ, knowing I have friends along the way is of great content.

Although I said no diet tips…Hydrox cookies! Delicious chocolate, 100% artificial ingredient Oreos J You’re welcome for the cheat.

My Lenten Voyage Starts with a Shower

Warm water enveloping my head in a forest rainfall. Everything is quiet and I can meditate. That is my morning ritual. My bride, the Love Goddess, enjoys the “massage” settings that punches her with water 1,492 times a minute. While she is free and relaxed I have the percussion section blasting Carmina Burana at 300 decibels. The thump reverberates through the whole house.

Next morning I change our shower back to the Serene Forest rainfall and the Love Goddess will turn on a Jackhammer. The pattern has repeated itself for the last 7 years since we got the new shower head. Last week, after my shower, I changed the shower to Jackhammer mode for the Love Goddess. She was startled. She had never heard how loud the shower was before. She still likes jackhammer mode, but is aware of how loud it is.

That’s when I realized that Lent is about getting out of the shower. Seeing yourself from a different perspective, getting clean from a spiritual perspective. What the Love Goddess didn’t know was the shower sounded rocks in the garbage disposal. It’s not bad, it’s self-awareness.

Getting back on the spiritual path is as easy as jumping into the shower only drier. Make the effort to get to church, do an extra prayer, skip that dessert, etc. Shake things up and intensify. I’ll paraphrase CS Lewis “I didn’t know what a straight line was until I saw one. I had been looking at curves that I thought were straight.” So the moral is – take a shower and get some perspective.