Hello there, friend,
Over the weekend, I read an essay about Lent that's sticking with me. What we should give up for Lent, all of us, is our troubles, our idols, our striving. Lent is not about giving up chocolate or social media or anything tangible; it's about shifting our mindset from us to God. We don't have to try harder; we just need to let go.
Later that evening, I stood in the kitchen and burst into tears. I've been trying to sort things out within myself, trying to find a place where I can accept what's happened and what continues to happen in some of the more complex parts of my life. The weight of all of it pressed down hard on me.
I took a deep breath and tried to get myself together. As I did, I remembered one of my favorite poems (by David Whyte), one I'm sure I've shared with you before but I'm going to share again. Now whenever I think of it, I'll think of Lent, of letting go of that to which we don't belong in order to embrace where we do:
“You must learn one thing:
the world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn
anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.”
xo,
L
