Silent Mondays...Joy Listens

 

 

 

I’m not talking to you anymore. 

At least, not on Mondays, from sun up to sun down.   

Lent snuck up on me this year.  Literally.  I am but 27 minutes from the endings of Shrove Tuesday and have spent about that in prayer or preparation for this season.  For the last few years, I have developed well-thought-out plans to engage in disciplines that will draw my heart to my Beloved’s.  Ways to die to my fettered self and leave tilled soil ready for his transformation to bloom.  But this year, it wasn’t until I was sitting in the school parking lot that I realized that tomorrow (or, rather 23 minutes from now) is Ash Wednesday.  Huh.  Time is a funny thing…

During my hurried reflection, I knew that I wanted to do something different from years past; something that was less me-centered and would focus my heart on the things near to God’s.  I want a mind centered on Him, a heart bent towards His desires, and a life that reflects that to the world. 

So I’ve decided to forgo speaking altogether.

Actually, with 15 minutes to go, here’s what I’m giving up and why.  I’ll write a separate article about each over the weekend, but for now, I just needed to commit to my practice.  And penning a blog was a bit easier (and more ameanable to the Officer) than shaving my head…

1.      On Mondays, I will not speak, will not sing, will not use my voice at all (barring a medical emergency that requires a vocal adult).  I will use this silence to cultivate a posture of listening, first to God and then to my loved ones, and then to a world full of hurting people who need to be heard.  I will still my voice for this season, to keep myself mindful of those who have no voice in their communities, in their homes, in their religions.  That I might pray for those who wonder if even God’s ears are closed to their voices.

2.     Once a week, I will fast.  I will replace one family meal on this day with one composed of only beans or rice or some other food found on the tables of the poor around the world.  I will use the money saved through this discipline to buy food for our local food bank.  We will do this to remember that God provides us with plenty so that we may share it with those who have not.

3.     I will abstain from fast food, to include coffee at that not-so-local java joint, using the money saved through this denial to purchase a farm animal for an impoverished family somewhere else on this blue mote. 

I will blog weekly about my and our family’s experience over this Lenten season.  With only 7 minutes remaining on my computer battery, and 6 until Ash Wednesday, I pray that through these exercises my heart will be  malleable to be further shaped into Christ's likeness; and my spirit filled with the joy that only comes from a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Have a blessed Lent!