It is such an appropriate time for a penitential season. Bleak, cold, wet, yucky. Bring on the penance! This year all the kids have a "crown of Thorns" with 40 toothpicks in each. They pick a paper with a sacrifice or prayer on it--when they have accomplished their (age appropriate) challenge they remove a toothpick, thus lessening Jesus' suffering. Everything from "clear the table without being asked," to "Say a Hail Mary for Mom."
I love Lent because the simplicity of the season helps us all focus on what we really want family life to be. Often it seems that we all rub each other the wrong way. Bring out the worst. Go out of our way to give a little dig, rather than a little lift. We are human after all, bad moods, sleepless nights, and the normal stress of life can take it's toll on familial charity.
But those excuses ALWAYS exist. There is always a reason to NOT go the extra mile. Lent is a time specially set aside when I can remind myself and the children that now more than ever we NEED to go that extra mile for the sake of LOVE. And maybe by the end of these 40 days some of it will be habit, easy, normal. Meditating on all that Jesus said while on the Cross, the words of love and forgiveness, gives me the recollectedness I need to give a smile and a hug, when I'd rather make a demand or point out a fault.
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