Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, a 46-day period of preparation for the joyful Easter celebration. The word lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means "lengthen"; it refers to the longer days of spring. 

Lent is about mortality and transformation; death and rebirth. Marcus Borg says "It means dying to an old way of being, and being born into a new way of being, a way of being centered once again in God."

Agenda for Lent:

1. Set intentions for Lent

2. Write a daily Lenten calendar

3. Hang up the Lady Lent
4. Make pretzels

1. Set intentions for Lent: 
At Lent I allow myself to be slow, simple, and thoughtful. I spend time each day in focused study and prayer. And I choose something to temporarily reduce or cut out of my life, as a reminder that what I truly need is the nurturing of Spirit. And I also observe Lent as a time of creative action, acting on what I learn.

My theme for Lent this year is the Road to Resilience. I'm trying to build and strengthen my ability to bounce back from challenges, conflict, and calamity. I found this from  a blog called Gathering the Stones:

This is what Lent is designed to do: nurture hopefulness in the face of dashed dreams. ... Lent is about more than swearing off bad habits. Lent is about cultivating resilience. Lent is the season of learning to commit and sustain love in all circumstances. It’s a season of releasing what does not serve you and practicing the habits of resilience that empower you to rebuild and participate in healthy community after a disaster or a loss.

My goals are to:

• Educate myself: I'm reading the book The Coward's Guide to Conflict: Empowering Solutions for those Who Would Rather Run Than Fight.
• Equanimity Habits: Ground myself in journaling, meditation, gratitude practices, and other ways to find my core of peace and courage. 
• Fast from binge eating: I try to choose something to fast from that is a good symbol of how I am trying to grow, and I think my binge eating has a direct connection to feeling overwhelmed bye life's challenges.
• Take creative action: Take decisive action on adverse or challenging situations as they arise, and use my creative super powers to grow, and make the world better.

2. Write a daily Lenten calendar:

I really like the calendars that some churches publish for Lent, with a daily reading and a task of some kind. Here is one Lenten Family Calendar, but as usual, I will write my own calendar, and the first week is posted just above this entry.

3. Hang up the Lady Lent:
Greek children make a paper doll for Lent, called Kyra Sarakosti (Lady Lent). The Kyra always folds her hands in prayer, and she has no mouth because she is fasting. Also, she has seven legs, representing the number of weeks in Lent. Each Saturday, the children fold back a leg as they count down the weeks.

I made a Lady Lent a couple years ago that I can use each year- Now she hangs in my living room as a visual reminder of the countdown to Easter. The instructions are here.

4. Make pretzels:
Pretzels are a traditional bread for Lent because they are made with no dairy or eggs.

Pretzels were invented by an Italian monk as a reward to children who learned their prayers. The strips of baked dough are folded to resemble arms crossing the chest. The monks called the breads "little arms" (bracellae). From this Latin word, the Germanic people later coined the term "pretzel." The recipe is here.