First Friday in Lent

Lent can remind us of our mortality and sober our thinking and attitudes that we allow slack during other parts of the year. But the realization of our mortality need not be morose or defeatist in its affect on us. Indeed, if noticing our own mortality helps us to stop and refocus on God, we can instead rejoice, grasp, and look forward to the Life immortal that He has given us and promised forever.

Acknowledging our mortality prepares us to let go of impermanence, of deterioration, of illness and even of death. We can let go of death as a threat, as something to be feared and avoided at all costs. Rather, we can accept it knowing that it is but a beginning.

A beginning to Life, real Life that will have no end. A Life with and in God in an even more perfect manner than we can experience in our current bodies.This anticipated transition, of becoming and not ending, has formed the basis of faith for more than one disciple in the history of the church. It has consistently brought forth praise and even a bit of frustration or disappointment. Paul we know was torn between going to be with God, or remaining on earth. For him to have lived would be Christ; for him to have died would gain.

Gain that cannot be realized if we hold on to mortality and avoid falling into Life with God. This Life is the promise, but it comes with death as the door. Don't rue your mortality; anticipate with gladness the resurrection. As someone has said, "it's Friday, but Sunday's coming!"

This Lent, practice letting go of some stuff, of some plans, of some ego need. This Lent, reach out for Life.