Ash Wednesday – the first day of Lent.
As I mentioned yesterday with Shrove Tuesday; Lent is not
generally observed here in Witch
Falls; though some people
do recognize the religious tradition. It
was probably the jokes in my journal last night about what I wasn’t going to
give up for Lent that had me thinking more about Lent today. The fact that we don’t observe Lent at our
church may seem strange to some when we have such a strong and closely-knit
congregation, but I’ll only point out that Lent is a church tradition in
certain denominations; which is quite different from biblical observations that
are observed by most Christian communities.
That doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate those customs and
traditions, because I can – and have studied them the same as I have thoroughly
studied most major world religions. Mom
and I have attended churches that do observe Lent; but even then those
congregations weren’t following anything near to the strictest guidelines for
fasting or the other historical requirements.
My perspective on religious traditions such as Lent are admittedly
colored by my ‘higher plane’ relationship with God and a deeply rooted
religious education; and I’ll take this opportunity to include a few thoughts
about that here.
Let’s begin that with something that may not seem obvious to
many: God loves us; is very patient and forgiving! Yes, there are things that he wants from us –
our love being among the most important; but He loves us regardless of how we
choose to live our lives. Our
relationship with Him doesn’t need to be complicated or even particularly
difficult – though that doesn’t mean that what’s expected of us won’t be
challenging or even have great personal cost.
The Magi of the Light know this better than most, but some members of
our little community here understand that better than others. For Mom, that’s very personal; while for
families like the Palmers, it’s a very important part of their family history.
I’m not going to write a long sermon here when others are
far better suited to offer a Magi perspective of faith and religion; but I will
suggest that everyone just needs to lighten up!
God wants us to be happy and have joy-filled lives. Filling our lives with love and happiness
will help us through the tasks and trials we’ll each face in our lives – and
that’s true regardless of how much time we spend on this part of our spiritual
journey. That’s going to be especially
true in the coming years and decades as we approach this next ascension of the
light; and I plan on filling my life with as much love and joy as I can!
The love is something that I feel all of the time now, but
I’ll have to admit that my day wasn’t exactly filled to overflowing with
non-stop fun today – I was too busy with the work both at school and my
part-time job. It’s not that I don’t
ever find my chores, studies, and family-business responsibilities enjoyable or
even fun sometimes; it’s just that none of that is on the same level as play
time of any kind with my family and friends – like we had on Monday and Tuesday
night. There wasn’t even as much fun as
usual around school today, though that had less to do with me personally as it
did with the stress some of my friends were feeling while dealing with tests
and impending projects and major assignment deadlines looming ever-closer ahead
of March Break.
Our after-school study session in the conference room at
Landry’s was a fun exception to the day; but even that hour or so of
entertainment was fit in around getting our homework done before we each needed
to get to our part-time jobs. I walked
with Michael to the Inn on my way home and stopped in for some hugs and kisses
with his parents and Rebecca; but then it was almost all work for me for the
rest of the night – except for breaks at dinnertime and when Ethan and Ehlana
went to bed for the night. I worked on
the family business until that second break; and have been doing my usual
bedtime studies and nightly computing since coming up to my room after doing my
Magi lesson with Mom.
As seems to happen way too often, my thoughts about having
an early bedtime didn’t work out; though I will manage to be off to sleep a bit
earlier than I managed over the past few nights. While I got a lot of work done tonight, there
really isn’t anything newsworthy to write about here; and I won’t bore you with
the technical details for any of my family business issues. I love everything we’re doing with our
charities and businesses, but let’s be honest – accounting and finance can be
incredibly boring too!
I’ve mentioned that here in my journals before too, so that
isn’t news either; and I should just wrap this up and get on to the nap part of
my night. With game night at the Inn and Uncle Adam’s birthday ahead, the fun level is
definitely going to head higher for the next couple of days; and I want to be
ready to enjoy all of that with my family and our friends.
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
