2 gifts to begin Lent 2012

As a follow up to yesterday's post, I present the photo above . . . it was Fat Tuesday and we did our part with a party.  There was merriment and mayhem and a ton of happy, dirty, crazy boys to help us blow it out.  If there is any sugar left within a one acre circle of my home, I can't imagine it.  Much was eaten, much enjoyed.  Pancakes were downed, pancakes were flipped in a race and things were done with silly string and canned whipped cream that might make you a bit queasy just to read.  Suffice it to say, it was a celebration.

Now, we get the gift of Lent.  The gift I appreciate, the one that keeps coming back every year, right on time, allowing us all to re-examine how things are going and pause for reflection.  Lent is hard, but I welcome it this year.  It's time to do some soul-searching, some refiguring and some planning.  Time to reign in the eating, add to the exercise and consider the parts of a life that work well and the parts that need a bit of tweaking.

I begin this season with gifts from two friends, two of my favorite humans, and two folks I'm thankful to have along for this journey.

The first gift I bring along into this lenten season is a comment on yesterday's post from my good friend, Amy.  Aside from being the hands-down funniest bi-pedal (how about that flash-back to a previous post) on earth, she is also a dear friend and wordsmith.  Amy is good with words.  She can use them to be humorous and she can use them to speak from her heart.  Her comments from yesterday are a perfect way, as I see it, to begin this time of reflection.  I put them here and I'll be sure to refer to them as I move along the coming weeks.

Sometimes, when we go through hard times (whatever they may be), we tend to get tunnel vision. We complain, we pout, or we simply give up. We focus on ourselves, rather than on God's constant and unending gift of hope. The promise of tomorrow and all that it offers gives me great comfort. I think God presses pause on our lives for a reason...to reflect, to renew, and to restore in us what gets lost in our fast-paced lives: our faith. When we lose sight of what's really important, I mean really important, God has a wonderful way of slowing us down. Maybe these next forty days are His way of making us remember what His vision for us truly is...to love wholly and deeply, to forgive and be compassionate, to give freely to others, to laugh and be joyful, and to feel the peace and grace he provides us despite our shortcomings. What a beautiful world it would be if we had the discipline to live this way all the time. So today, I too will bask in the frenzy that begins this season, for I know that my life is good and God is great. Eat up!!!!! 


The second gift is from my friend Melinda.  She hasn't been my friend for my whole life, but it sure feels like it.  I wouldn't want to think of life without her.  I've asked her for the gift she brings today, and she has given it before.  Like Lent, Melinda just keeps coming around to help me, even with things she has helped me with numerous times.  Remember when I referred to those people (I love but don't understand) who create order, enjoy tidying and have lives that make sense?  Well, Melinda is one of those.  Over and over, year after year, in different places and different spaces, she has come to my rescue when I allow my life to lose all sense of order.  Again and again, she has done for me what she can do for herself easily.  She has forced me to clean out drawers, stood in the entrance to closets and not let me out until they're in order and drawn detailed calendars on large sheets of paper to attempt to illustrate for me what times allows and what it does not.  She reminds me about the things that need to be done daily.  She swoops in and tries to move around through the clutter of a blogging, photo-taking, right-brained friend who is always in need of rescue.  She has done it before and she'll most likely do it again.  Once, years ago, Melinda decided I had too many t-shirts, that the drawers were too full of too many items that weren't necessary.  The entire faculty of the school where I worked took part in a pool to predict how many t-shirts I actually had - my friend, Ann, was closest to the total of 106.  One hundred and six t-shirts?  Yeah, folks like me need help.  


I've subscribed to the blogs that promise to get me organized, decrease my clutter and stress and deep-clean my home in 365 days, but someone in my condition gets a bit scared just by perusing the plans.  So far, I've read a few entries but I'm un-surprisingly hesitant to actually get started.  So . . . Melinda is coming to the rescue.  She'll come today and take a look.  She'll make some suggestions and she'll force me to get rid of some things I won't want to toss.  We've done this before.  We'll do it again.  I'm hopeful, though, that each time I take a few steps forward, I don't take quit as many backward.  I guess it's like that for all of us.  We've all got our stuff.  Now, we get this season, this semi-pause on life, to take inventory and do a bit of housekeeping.  


Today, I give thanks to Amy for her words and to Melinda for her actions.  Thankful beyond measure to be living alongside friends who make me better, make me think and give the gifts they do.