Lent is nearly upon us.  Great Lent has in fact begun for Eastern Christians who keep a very strict fast.  Traditional fasts in the West were historically also much more rigorous than many observe today.  In fact, many of us are much stricter in our weight loss or physical fitness efforts than we are in our spiritual exercises. St John Chrysostom challenges us to take good advantage of these weeks given to us to strengthen both areas and see fasting – both physical and spiritual – as a the opportunity it truly is to gird ourselves up and start anew: 

"Fasting is the change of every part of our life….

because the sacrifice of the fast is not the abstinence but the distancing from sins. Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast. Are you fasting? Show me your fast with your works. Which works? If you see someone who is poor, show him mercy. If you see an enemy, reconcile with him. If you see a friend who is becoming successful, do not be jealous of him! If you see a beautiful woman on the street, pass her by.

In other words, not only should the mouth fast, but the eyes and the legs and the arms and all the other parts of the body should fast as well. Let the hands fast, remaining clean from stealing and greediness. Let the legs fast, avoiding roads which lead to sinful sights. Let the eyes fast by not fixing themselves on beautiful faces and by not observing the beauty of others. You are not eating meat, are you? You should not eat debauchery with your eyes as well. Let your hearing also fast. The fast of hearing is not to accept bad talk against others and sly defamations. Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers?

For there exist, there really exist, ways which are even more important than abstinence from food which can open the gates which lead to God with boldness. He, therefore, who eats and cannot fast, let him display richer almsgiving, let him pray more, let him have a more intense desire to hear divine words. In this, our somatic illness is not a hindrance. Let him become reconciled with his enemies; let him distance from his soul every resentment."  - St John Chrystostom

It is a huge spiritual reset button.  Such a gift!  No matter how you keep lent remember it is a very private matter between you and God. (Matthew 6:1) This essay about the counsel of St Philip Neri urges us to follow Gandalf's advice in Lord of the Rings to "keep it secret, keep it safe" so we don't lose the merit, or value, of our practices by exposing them to the eyes of the world.  

May your lent be fruitful and peaceful.  

Outside: The sun is setting over a snowy hillside. That's right.  While Instagram is showing me the beginnings of spring from my coastal friends, we just got another six inches or so of snow.  In fact, we just took advantage of some end of season good luck and bought a snowblower.  Our sons are beside themselves with relief.  

Wearing: a navy linen tunic dress with black leggings and boots.  Variations of this theme are pretty common right now.  

Around the house: deep cleaning happening.  Now that we have had a few days in a row at home I have been tackling some long put off chores like pulling out the fridge and wiping down the light fixtures.  

Reading:  I read The Great Divorce on the road trip.  It was a fast read and gave me lots to mull over.  I hesitate to recommend without Lewis' own disclaimer:

"I beg readers to remember this is a fantasy. It has of course – or I intended it to have – a moral.  But the transmittal conditions are solely and imaginative supposal: they are not even a guess or a speculation at what may actually await us. The last thing I wish to arouse is factual curiosity about the details of the afterworld."

I agree wholeheartedly.  Whatever awaits is bigger and wider and deeper than we will ever be able to picture literally.  I read the story thinking his hell or purgatory is actually more akin to our daily decisions here in life. THAT part of the story is not meant to be considered literally.  It is the character discussion, the life choices that he means for us to consider well.  With that said the analogies are convicting, especially this one about grumbling:

"Understand me.  The question is whether she is a grumbler or only a grumble?

But how can there be a grumble without a grumbler?

It begins with a grumbling mood,  and yourself still distinct from it: perhaps criticizing it. and yourself in a dark hour, may will that mood, may embrace it. Ye can repent and come out of it again. But there may come a day when you do that no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood, not even to enjoy it, just the grumble itself going on forever like a machine…."

While my total number of classic novels read is still short of my target I am encouraged by this article. 

"Here’s how much time a single American spends on social media and TV in a year: 608 hours on social media and 1642 hours on TV. That’s 2250 hours a year spent on TRASH. If those hours were spent reading instead, you could be reading over 1,000 books a year!"

Now I don't think I read as many pages per minute as the author estimates but I would be happy reading even 20 books a year.  A good deal of my reading time I don't "count" right now because it is nonfiction/instructional content but it's still happening.  

Listening to: my children, my husband, the quiet, the pages turning.  I began something of a social media fast early this year, mainly Facebook which requires closer monitoring and feedback and is more and more given to debate and disagreement.  

Years ago when Managers of Their Homes (MOTH) was a popular topic of discussion I recall an article where a woman showed her hourly spread for the week.  She was contemplating committing to a new project and put her head together with her husband who said very practically, "Which of these squares can you take off the chart each week?"  Those old enough to remember know that MOTH recommended an hourly grid you could fill with removeable post it notes that were labelled with your commitments like appointments or classes or housework or meetings etc.  While some balk at the regularity of it all it IS a good tool to lay out your days and check to see if you are trying to cram more activities into your day than there are free hours to do them.  

That happens.  

It was happening here.  

I have some personal creative projects I wanted to commit to and we had a wedding, a First Holy Communion to prepare for, a mentorship to complete, and family travel.  Then we got a large scale basement remodel added to that. Something needed to go because my thoughts were scattered a dozen different directions.  Pulling back helped me find more hours.  More quiet.  Sometimes it feel too quiet and the lost conversation is felt keenly. It was a good decision for right now though.  

Towards wellness: We joined a local athetic club and are having a marvelous time together there.  My air hockey skills are awesome just so you know.  I rock the game room.  The other rooms, not so much but we are improving.  We are doing a Whole30 during lent though modified to accomodate the tradtional fasting and abstinence.  Feels good.  

Creating: new projects in the works.  If you are over on IG or the Facebook biz page there will be updating happening there. Basically I am rambling and thinking out loud over here and sharing artsy images over there.  

“The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.”

Louisa May Alcott

“It's sad if people think that's (homemaking) a dull existance, [but] you can't just buy an apartment and furnish it and walk away. It's the flowers you choose, the music you play, the smile you have waiting. I want it to be gay and cheerful, a haven in this troubled world. I don't want my husband and children to come home and find a rattled woman. Our era is already rattled enough, isn't it?” 

– Audrey Hepburn