March 13, 2024 “Are we there yet?” If I had a dollar for every time someone has reminded me “patience is a virtue,” I’d have a lot of dollars, but I still wouldn’t have much patience. That occurred to me as I sat in the driver’s seat of my itty-bitty SUV, feeling annoyed, traveling around 38 miles per hour in a 55 miles-per-hour zone, fifth in a line of cars stuck, all of us behind a truck hauling an oversized load. I’m not much better than I was when I was a young child, sitting in the back seat of one of my parents’ vehicles, on a long (or not-so-long) road trip whining, “are we there yet?” I have no doubt this was part of God’s plan when He put me in this job I love so dearly that just happens to be an hour away from where I live. Being in my car in those circumstances in which I can do nothing but accept going slower than I want also made me think of where I am on my Lenten journey. I’m at that point in Lent at which I start to think, “are we there yet?” I also have no doubt this was part of God’s plan for Lent. I start every Lent very dedicated to whatever practices I take on, whether it be giving something up, adding something to my routine or both. Every Lent, I maintain that motivation through the first couple weeks pretty easily. Then, often without warning, usually sometime around week four, my Lenten commitments start feeling like a chore. I start to wish it were over. I start longing to move from the solemn to the celebratory, from the cross to the resurrection. While I wish I could maintain that motivation throughout Lent, God works with me where I am, even if it’s not where I want to be. For me, this means He’s using how I feel now to give me a little reminder that my relationship with Him, like any relationship, has periods where it’s easy and periods in which it feels like work. This is a time to do the work. Sometimes that work means trying to find a bit of patience and accepting that I’m not there yet.
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