The first enthusiasm of Lent can fade surprisingly quickly, even though the journey itself is only beginning. If you’ve ever reached the middle of the week wondering where your resolve disappeared, you’re in good company. This reflection explores the grace of continuing faithfully when motivation wanes, discovering that God is often shaping us most deeply through quiet perseverance rather than dramatic spiritual highs.
Tag Archives: Forgiveness
Bread Alone Would Be Easier: Why Lent Asks Harder Questions Than Hunger
Giving something up for Lent is often the easiest part of the season. The deeper challenge is allowing God to reshape our hearts. This reflection explores Jesus’ response to temptation in the wilderness and the searching questions Lent places before us, reminding us that we were created to hunger for far more than bread alone.
Temptation Isn’t Always Dramatic: The Spiritual Danger of Just Getting Comfortable
Temptation rarely arrives wearing a disguise that is easy to recognize. More often, it quietly invites us to settle for comfort, complacency, and lives that ask very little of us. This reflection explores the subtle temptations that can dull our spiritual lives and the gentle call of Christ to remain awake, attentive, and open to the transforming work of God’s grace.
The First Sunday of Lent: When the Journey Begins Before We Feel Ready
The journey of Lent rarely begins at the moment we feel fully prepared. Like so much of the Christian life, it starts with an invitation to trust God before we have everything figured out. This reflection explores the courage of taking the first step, discovering that God’s grace is already waiting for us on the road ahead.
Before We Improve Ourselves: Letting God Like Us First
Lent often awakens the desire to become better people. Yet before God calls us to change, God first calls us beloved. This reflection explores the liberating truth that spiritual growth begins not with earning God’s approval, but with receiving the grace of being loved exactly where we are, and allowing that love to transform us from the inside out.
Learning to Walk Slower: Lent, Fridays, and the Spiritual Discipline of Not Rushing
Lent invites us to do something that feels surprisingly difficult: slow down. In a world that rewards hurry, the deliberate pace of the season becomes its own spiritual discipline. This reflection explores the grace of walking more slowly, discovering that God’s voice is often heard most clearly when we stop rushing long enough to listen.
The Morning After the Ashes: When Lent Feels Awkward, Ordinary, and Slightly Underwhelming
The morning after Ash Wednesday rarely feels dramatic. The ashes have faded, ordinary routines have returned, and Lent begins with a quiet awkwardness that can seem almost underwhelming. This reflection explores the gentle grace of these ordinary beginnings, reminding us that God often does God’s deepest work not through dramatic moments, but through the faithful rhythms of everyday discipleship.
Ash Wednesday: The Day the Church Tells the Truth (Gently, and With Ashes)
Ash Wednesday begins with a simple but profound truth: we are dust, and to dust we shall return. Yet the ashes are never a sign of despair. They are traced in the shape of the cross, reminding us that our mortality is held within God’s mercy. This reflection explores the gentle honesty of Ash Wednesday and the hope that begins when we entrust ourselves once again to God’s unfailing grace.
Shrove Tuesday: Or, the Day the Church Invented Pancakes (for Holy Reasons)
Before the quiet disciplines of Lent begin, the Church has long known the wisdom of celebrating with pancakes, laughter, and generous hospitality. Shrove Tuesday reminds us that feasting and fasting belong together in the Christian life. This reflection explores the joyful theology behind one of the Church’s most delicious traditions and the grace of preparing our hearts with both gratitude and good humour.
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: Bearing Witness, Walking Together
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation calls us to more than remembrance—it invites us into the ongoing work of listening, learning, lamenting, and walking together toward healing. With humility and hope, this reflection explores the Christian call to bear witness to the truth of the past while committing ourselves to relationships marked by justice, compassion, and reconciliation. It reminds us that genuine healing begins when we have the courage to listen deeply and faithfully accompany one another on the long journey toward a more just future.