Prayer

Today I was nudged to think about Lent in a little different way.

To me, Lent has always been this somber, sad time where we are supposed to meditate on God’s sacrifice for us. I have always chosen to give up something I like during this time as a way to remember God’s sacrifice.

During Father’s homily today, he spoke about Lent being a time of repentance and new spiritual growth. He said Lent is a time of rejuvenation, and I like the idea of thinking about Lent this way. I know there are areas of my life that need to have some life put back in them. I get in ruts. I cook the same things. I watch the same television programs. I go to the grocery store on the same day every week. I race through my prayers the same way each morning.

I’m going to use this time to try to spark up my spiritual life, and I’m going to start with my prayer life. Baby steps. I suggested to my husband while we were driving home after Mass that perhaps we should read St. Paul’s letters (at least some of them) together each night. He and I both pray, but never together. It’s a start.

Yesterday we flew a kite with three of our grandchildren. Miss A is 5. Mr. T is 3. Miss D is 2. My husband is 66 going on 10. We had so much fun. The kite, which they put together before going out to fly it, is shaped like an airplane. The kids are blessed with creative imaginations. The 3-year-old boy pretended that he was the pilot of the plane. During the course of the kite-flying escapade, he flew the plane to Chicago to see his great-grandmother, to New York City to see two aunts, and to Jackson Hole to see another aunt. The girls, unfortunately, were relegated to being flight attendants. We’ll work on that.