lent

this year, dan and i are celebrating lent. in the past i have done some sort of fast and little celebration but this year, thanks to erin, we are taking another step in our celebration. first, we went to an ash wednesday service and for the first time i had ashes on my head. second, we gave up something that we actually miss and therefore think about Christ more. and third, we are reading a daily devotion together about lent. i especially liked today's:
"Life is a long journey of preparation- of preparing oneself to truly die for others. It is a series of little deaths in which we are asked to release many forms of clinging and to more increasingly from needing others to living for them. The many passages we have to make as we grow from childhood to adolescence, from adolescence to adulthood, and from adulthood to old age offer ever-new opportunities to choose for ourselves or to choose for others. During these passages, questions such as Do I desire power or service; do I want to be visible or remain hidden; do I strive for a successful career or do I keep following my vocation? keep coming up and confront us with hard choices. In this sense, we can speak about life as a long process of dying to self, so that we will be able to live in the joy of God." -Henri J Nouwen, Beyond the Mirror: Reflections on Death and Life.

-mary