Ready or Not

A confession: I'm not ready for Lent, not in the slightest. Don't get me wrong. My message for tonight's service is done, the bulletins have been printed, the ashes are ready to be mixed. All manner of activities have been planned and scheduled for the weeks to come. Spiritually, though, I'm not there yet. I feel like I've shown up at the train station just in time to watch the 5:25 pull away (I've done this. More than once. Talk about deflating.) I should have ended that last meeting sooner; I should have left a few minutes earlier; I should have ... You get the picture. Fortunately, whenever I found myself stewing as I watched the commuter rail pull out of Porter Square Station, I was able to remind myself that in ten minutes or so another train would come along. The same is true of Lent.

Yes, today's Ash Wednesday, and, yes, the season of Lent begins today, ready or not. But this is a season of preparation, one that lasts forty days (and that's not counting Sundays). It's okay to need some time to get into one's spiritual groove. If we're not ready to get on the train, another one will come along. That's what the life of faith is like; it's filled with opportunities to get on board, if not now, later. And unlike the commuter rail, I won't have to worry about whether there's really room for me - because God will always make some available for me, just as God will for you.

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