Wednesday Wonder

Ash Wednesday

Lent is here!

Have just been looking over the Lenten calendar. Yes, I created it, but that doesn’t mean I have it memorized. Looked to see what is there for today and tomorrow. How did I want to inspire you at the beginning of Lent?

Both days have to do with giving thanks or being thankful. Acknowledging our blessings and expressing gratitude to God is a great way to start our Lenten journey. Lent is about reconnecting with God. Praying is always a good place to start.

Sometimes we take for granted all the blessings we receive. Our lives go on in the same way, for the most part, day in and day out, year in and year out. It can take an intentional stop to notice what they are. Sometimes, it is those things that interrupt our life of blessings that make us notice.

When difficult times happen, the good things around us take on a new glow. It can be the little things that help us through the big ones. The smell of the coffee brewing, the flit of a bird in our backyard, your favourite song playing as you turn on the radio, truly minor things in the grand scheme of life, but they make life better. They bring a smile or they relax us. Life feels better.

While life is usually mostly good, we go along every day taking our blessings for granted. We may not have noticed the smell of the coffee or the little bird or what song was playing as we sailed through the day. All was right with the world. Did we remember, as we crawled into bed to say thank you for a day that felt as though all was right with the world? I know I don’t always.

But I do remember to tell God, as I crawl into bed at the end of what I deemed a not so great day, that I would appreciate if things got better. Funny how that happens. Sort of like with an insurance policy that deems something an act of God. Usually that something is a disaster. Why do we blame God for the disaster, but don’t consider the flip side of that is also God?

Often easier to blame God than thank God. We humans like to have someone or something to blame. If there isn’t another person right there at the time, God will do. Maybe part of our Lenten journey is to look more frequently for ways to thank God, even on days when we would prefer to just lay the blame with God.

While Ash Wednesday on our Lenten calendar reminds us to say thanks to God for our blessings, the next day suggests we tell people that we are thankful for having them in our life. They are, in fact, another of the blessings God provides. Do we think of them that way? Do we consider that God might have had a hand in bringing just the right person into our life when we needed them?

Today, I want to tell someone that I am thankful to have them in my life. That someone is you. Yes, whoever you is, that is reading my words today. Each of you has added something to my life since we met.

When I have been at my lowest, your prayers, presence and support lifted me up and carried me on. You reminded me that no matter what is going on in my life, God is providing an abundance of blessings.

I know that some of those who read these words today may be having a great day, others not so much. Whichever you may be, may you know that at least one ‘someone’ is thankful for your presence and considers you a blessing.

May Lent be a time of giving and receiving of blessing for all of us.