Yes, Ash Wednesday is coming up in about three weeks … February 22ndto be exact!  We’ll have our (what’s becoming) “traditional” Ash Wednesday service at 7:00 p.m. that day.  Our music will be contemplative and we’ll have the opportunity to write down our sins on pieces of paper, get the sign of the cross marked on our brows in ashes, nail our sins to our big wooden cross and then commune with our Lord at the altar.

From that traditional beginning of Lent many of us anticipate our mood to be a rather somber one.  And though there is much to be somber about in our world and within ourselves, focusing on that darkness can drag us further into discouragement and sadness.  As a golfer I like to think about the power of where I’m focusing!  If I see the sand trap or the out-of-bounds stakes, the lake or the stream and say,  “NO, I don’t want to go there … I don’t want to go there!!!” … well, guess what?  I most often do just the thing I’m telling myself not to do … like “Now, above all, on this chip shot … whatever you do …No, No, No!! … DON’T LOOK UP!”  Chunk!  Argh!  Grrr!  Can you identify?  With all that said, guess what?  Our opening theme for Ash Wednesday will be the most precious fruit of the Spirit: love!

Yes, though we will have ashes and the cross to express and identify our many weaknesses, our attitude this Lent will rather focus on positives: the Fruits of the Spirit.  Really?   Blend in the Fruits of the Spirit with Lent?  Can that be done?  Is it possible that from our darkness we may actually better see the Light? Or, using the fruit metaphor:  From a place of inner hunger, might something nutritious really hit the spot?

When I was a child, my mother always said, “Work first! Get your work done before you play.”  She would then find my brother and I out in the yard playing football and haul us away from our friends.  “Stop playing!  Say ‘Goodbye’ to your friends.  Get your homework done.  NOW!”  “But Mom,” we’d plead, “It’ll be dark soon and we won’t be able to play.”  Sometimes that might buy us 15 minutes, but rarely more.  Mom was unbending.  With that focus, we often saw homework as our enemy … keeping us from being with our friends. Indeed, it made me want to procrastinate … which added lots of tension in going through college!!

Now that I’m old enough to review this “game” we played with mom … trying to sneak out whenever we could, getting caught and hauled in … I think about Lent with its somber message to “sinners” like, “Stop doing this or that.  You “should” be doing this!  Shame on you!”  Oh, boy!

Yeah ... focus on shame and I can guarantee you misery!  Yet many of us are steeped on focusing on our sins rather than fruits, mutually nurtured and harvested.  What if, instead of fear-control we choose to sit down and mutually focus on more peace, love, joy, goodness, faithfulness and SELF-control?  Fear is quite the tool!  And the Church has wielded it … but not always in a good Spirit!  Like in golf, fear at home or church can lead to lots of Chunks! Arrghs! and Grrrs!

This Lenten season let’s put a different focus on Lent.  It’s time the Church built on a positive focus, especially in Lent.  What was the purpose of Jesus’ suffering, anyway … to make us miserable?  Is there a place for fruit in our Space for Grace?  I sure think so!!!

Sooo … are you up for blending spiritual fruits within our Lenten season?  Shall we taste and savor?