As we know from the Gospels, the baptism of Jesus was followed by experiences of wilderness, fasting and temptation. Jesus in isolated places fasts for forty days and forty nights and is tempted repeatedly without giving in to loneliness, hunger or the tempter's offers. Jesus sets a very high standard in this story. Many have set a Lenten practice of subtracting something from their lives to follow this standard and have been left with amplified feelings of not being good enough when they have failed. Obviously, this is not the hoped for result.

This leads me back to National Read Across America Day. This day is on the calendar to promote more reading in our country. Could our observation of Lent focus on more also? We could add more praying, reading and reflecting; more participation at church on Sundays and weekdays; more family meals together and more family discussions of gratitude and service. We could add more awareness of the movement of human experience through good times and challenging times and the place of faith in all o these. We could strive for more awareness of the dynamic between intention and temptation, mistakes and forgiveness. We could add more encouragement to steady our self-worth in the certainty of an abiding love we can't analyze or explain, only live. These added practices might provide the foundation from which we can give things up also without fear and failure closely looming.

May our Lenten practices reflect the balance of addition and subtraction that leads us individually and collectively to growth, to transformation, to encouraging and positive actions and memories. God's Love Across the World Day has a nice ring. Let's add and subtract our way to it together.

Lenten Blessings,
Sandy