The Tricky Math of Lent

Happy Lent!  We started this year’s observance of the season yesterday with many a reference to the forty-day nature of the period.  But if you actually count the days from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday, you end up with forty-seven days.  So, how do you square that with what you’ve heard your whole life?

Well, there is a lot of biblical significance to the number forty.  It rained for forty days and forty nights when the Flood came.  The Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years after their captivity in Egypt.  Jesus went into the desert for forty days prior to beginning his public ministry.  And he spent forty days with his disciples after his resurrection.  So, forty just seems like the appropriate number to ascribe to the period of Lent.

Some scholars argue that one shouldn’t count the Sundays of Lent as actually Lent, because each Sunday is a commemoration of the Resurrection itself, and yes, that does make it add up to forty days.  Another way to look at it is to consider the Triduum and Easter Sunday outside of the period of Lent, as well as the days following Ash Wednesday.  After all, we haven’t gotten to the first week of Lent yet.  These are just warm up days.  And once we get to Holy Thursday, it’s a completely different feeling than the rest of the liturgical season.

But, no matter what “counts” and what doesn’t, it is important to keep a spirit of preparation throughout this time leading up to Easter.  There aren’t really “cheat” days.  We aren’t on a diet (unless of course we’ve given up candy, soda, or dessert for Lent).  Even on days you consider to be outside the period of Lent, remember to keep preparing for the big event:  Easter.

A Reminder When Life Creeps Up on You

I am not a parent, but I was a teacher, and I have had the experience of encountering kiddos I taught several years after they had left my class.  I may have taught them when they were tiny, and now, they are teenagers, or, in the case of those I worked with when they were in high school, they are adults now.  I have experienced something similar with people I went to school with.  In my mind, the kids who were in fourth or fifth grade when I graduated from eighth grade are perpetually fourth or fifth graders.  That is, until I see them again at Basement Dweller reunions, and then I think, oh yeah, I grew up, so they did too.

At these times, it’s tempting for me to think, oh geez, I’m OLD!  But then I have to take a step back and get some perspective.  I spent almost three years working at the same school as my former sixth grade homeroom teacher.  What must it have been like for her, seeing me in faculty meetings “all grown up”?  In the words of a song by the band They Might Be Giants:  “Time is marching on, and time… is still marching on!”

And because time is a pesky thing like that, life can have a tendency to creep up on us.  Before we know it, a whole month has gone by, or even a whole year.  Our experience of time can also be relative.  A week may seem to drag on and on endlessly, only for us to look back at the end of a month, and think, where did it go?

As I look toward the end of this month, next week, I’m having this feeling of “Wait, where did February go?”  Looking toward the future, I think, May is so far away, but it’s not!  It’s only two or so months away.  We’re running out of time to get ready for my brother’s wedding at the end of May.  I’m running out of time to get my RCIA candidate ready to complete his initiation by Easter in a month and a half.  WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

If you want to think of something really mind-bendingly weird, consider how God might experience the passage of time.  God is eternal.  He has always been and He will always be.  Yet, He cares for each one of us, even though our lifetimes must be less than a blink of an eye to Him.  Take a moment today to thank God for His constant care for you.

Tell the Truth Until It Feels Good

I once heard someone say that to tell people to give until it hurts was not good advice.  This person argued that one should tell people to give until it feels good.  I think the same can be said for being open and honest with people.  If you go around pretending to be someone you’re not, you may end up disappointing people because you didn’t live up to their expectations of you, whether warranted or not.  And when you disappoint people you may wind up feeling disappointed in yourself.  And then, it could turn into a cycle of disappointment, and nobody would be very happy.

That doesn’t sound like a very pleasant way to live, does it?  What if you changed the situation from the very beginning?  If you are honest with others when they ask you questions, yes, you may disappoint them at first, and that may not feel very good.  But they will learn more about you through your honesty.  They will learn what they can expect from you.  They will most likely respect you more for being open than for pretending to be something or someone you are not.  In the long run, you will develop stronger relationships because you build trust through honesty.

I have often had people say to me, “Why don’t you do things a different way?” or “Why don’t you try changing x about yourself?”  My answer is simple:  because that’s not me.  If I change something about myself to make people like me better, that is no way to live.  I would be living a lie, disappointing myself, and making myself miserable.  Not to mention, when I am no longer able to keep up the charade, I am going to let people down who think I fit the mold of what I have pretended to be.

So, tell the truth, be open, be candid.  You will gather a group of people around you who know the real you and respect you for who you are.  And I doubt you will miss those who may have liked you for a mere appearance anyway.