Like when God spoke the world into being, I want every “Let there be…” spoken over me to be followed by “And it was so.”

In the end, Lenten practices are about releasing what is lesser and opening your hands for a deeper, fuller experience of God’s grace.

At its core, materialism is a soul-cry for belonging. It’s a symptom of a good, God-given desire of our hearts that hasn’t found its fulfillment in Jesus. Sin always seems to work this way. | Lent 2023

A few books and practices that help me enter into this season of preparation with gentleness and an unhurried look at Jesus.

Yet this day of ash and repentance and bread and wine speaks to my soul that though I am fatally limited, I am also infinitely loved. And so I bear the ashy cross on my head in humility and sorrow but also in hope, for it is not the dirt that will have the final word, but the precious blood of Christ.

I will not weaponize what God meant for healing. I dare not throw in the face of my co-heirs what he has given to us in love. I will not use for my own gain what is meant to renew all things, making every heart cry out, “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit!”