I am presented, today, with a giant slice of humble pie, should I choose to accept it. I can feast on it all the way until Lent if I wish, and it turns out that Lent doesn't begin for another whole week!
For several days, I've thought tomorrow was Ash Wednesday. I've gone so far as to wonder why no one else seemed to be mentioning it, why even priests were ignoring it. I'd felt God already preparing me for Lent, and when I realized my calendar-mistake, I knew that yes... indeed He has been preparing.
In this, He's not "rushing the season." After all, He is inviting me to deeper, more concentrated times of prayer, times of Just Being with Him, times of lingering. Whyever would He wait?
So I'm accepting my slice of humble pie and admitting that, oops, I got my weeks mixed up. At my age (I'm humbled to admit), it happens.
As for Lent, I am called then to concentrated times of prayer. Times when I speak with God and give Him ample time to speak to me. But of course: He who loved us first has already begun the process. He has taken the initiative, opened the conversation. He does so, I think, by asking a question:
"I, your Lord, am inviting you to spend more time with Me," He could be saying. "Time when I can touch your heart, show you love, bless you with gifts, shower you with mercy, flood you with graces, give you strength, empower you to face life, heal you, embrace you, and prepare you to be with Me always. All you have to do is come to Me.
Why ever would you wait?"
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