🌄 Empty: In surrender, I find peace.

Week 8 Year of Breath: In Our Lent Era

Lent is a personal and private journey into humility — a turning from so we might turn toward. This week, we’re exploring what it is to be empty so that we may be filled. Between family life, work demands, and a world on fire, many of us already feel like we’re running on empty.

So what’s the point of embracing this Lent season, anyway?

Instead of thinking of fasting as a religious ritual of self-deprivation, what if we embraced it as a spiritual practice that invites us to strip distractions, deepen connection, and cultivate humility and compassion in our messy lives?

I’m learning (in a way I never would have chosen for myself) how going without can lead to flourishing. My doctor asked me if I’d consider a three-week elimination diet to check for food allergies/sensitivities.

It turns out that turning from what I used to fill myself with is nourishing me in a new way — one I can not fully understand, but I can feel.

Lent doesn’t earn us more Jesus points. It’s not a competition to see who is most holy, nor is it a divine invitation to shed a few pounds with intermittent fasting.

I think of it this way: Lent is an invitation to empty our pockets of all the litter we’ve accumulated along the way to have space to hold what matters.

As we approach Holy Week, we’re using this space to explore the transformative power of reflection. As the email subtitle says, we’re in our Lent era.

I share this in the Spring introduction of Every Season Sacred:

Perhaps no other season so clearly highlights the cyclical, transitional nature of the created world and our spiritual lives. Like God’s Kingdom, it’s both now and not quite yet. Spring’s beginnings are messy here in the Midwest: snow melts into slush and then morphs into mud puddles. Daytime stretches longer, but we still send the kids to school with snow boots and gloves. The church calendar also reflects this messiness, inviting us to enter into a time of reflection and repentance as we observe Lent (the forty days leading up to Jesus’ death and burial) and — finally! — His resurrection.

The tough part about spring is that we don’t get to skip the mess and go straight to the celebration of Easter. Just as the daffodils and tulips and cherry blossoms take time to burst forth, we, too, have to take time to sit in the messy, muddy middle space.

What would it look like for you — in the midst of student-led conferences/homework at the dinner table/preschool drop-off — to embrace the challenges and (dare I say) blessings of going without?

In her book The Irrational Season, Madeleine L'Engle writes, “fasting is a way of coming to the brink of the grave and finding there the newness of life."

The life of one who stumbles toward Jesus is full of paradox.

This week, we’re exploring releasing what *isn’t* ours to hold so that we may receive what *is*.

Words to Borrow:

• “To Go Without” chapter on page 170 of Every Season Sacred. (You’ll find a reflection, breath prayer for you, Scripture, family conversation prompts, and two prayers to pray with your family.)

• “A Prayer for Lent” on page 148 of To Light Their Way.

• Sarah Bessey
  was our guest liturgist over on Instagram. She shared a beautiful blessing for wandering the wilderness, an adapted excerpt from her new book.

This Week’s Edition Includes:

• Breath prayers

• Scripture

• Reflection Prompts

• Weekly Playlist

• Wisdom to Borrow

• Wallpaper

If you join us as a paid subscriber: You can access all the Year of Breath weekly editions, including past weeks and all previous Liturgies for Parents care packages.

If you want to stay a free subscriber: That’s okay, too — thanks for being here! I’ll still send out one care package of prayers each month-ish for everyone without any sort of paywall.

Breath Prayer:

Choose a breath prayer from below to carry into this week. When you feel like you’re running on empty and have nothing to spare, take a moment to breathe.