It’s hard to believe that Lent is almost over, that we have entered Holy Week, that Easter is less than a week away.
I wrote at the start of Lent how we can use this walk through the desert as a time to make change in our lives. When we make a sacrifice, it’s usually about making some sort of change (like giving up a type of food to lose weight) or vowing to exercise more. I often have used Lent as a time write more, reflect more, and to work on the always challenging, letting go.
Now that we’re less than a week from Lent ending, the question is– how do we sustain that change even after Easter has ended?
Now, I’m not talking about giving up pizza for the rest of your life. I’m from Chicago, I would never advocate for that! But I do believe there is a place for cutting back, for making things we love more of a treat, mostly to make us healthier and our bodies happier.
My Lent this year was about working toward letting go of certain worries that plague me. And in my house, while we eat fairly well, we’re trying to eat better and eat less (getting ready for those warmer months when we aren’t hiding behind our clothes).
Usually, I’m thinking of Easter as the end of this sacrifice to make change, but not this year. Easter feels like a checkpoint, a rest stop, a time to reflect and rejuvenate before starting the walk again. The walk might not be so desolate and dry as the desert walk of Lent was, but it hopefully still includes more time for the conversations with God that have increased during Lent.
Lent is a time to grow closer to God and you wouldn’t want that stop at Easter, would you?