Lenten Learning

It's amazing what a week can do. Or forty days. I started out lent giving up processed foods. And I did miss crackery-snack things, canned soups and Luna Bars. (I am in love with Chocolate Peppermint Luna Bars.)

Then, about three weeks into Lent, I started going to the Yinova Center. For all practical purposes lets say they specialize in Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine and women's health, for the most part. During my first visit there, I was encouraged to omit sugar, wheat and dairy from my diet. So, that was that. I took this knowledge and applied it. It's worth a shot if this might be the remedy to what ails me.

And since I haven't filled you in on my alternative medicine experience, I will let you know that I have really enjoyed it. Today will be my third visit (Somehow last week my appointment didn't get scheduled appropriately. I'm assuming it was a simple miscommunication with the gal at the reception desk because I'm pretty sure I said "Put me down for Thursday at 4:15 and if I need to change, I will call you." But that is neither here nor there. However, I was upset about it last Thursday.)

It's been four weeks now. No sugar, no wheat, no dairy. An herbal tea to drink twice a day that tastes like dirt. And a Liver Detox. (Don't judge. I'm just gonna do it for now.) And I receive acupuncture treatments which leave me feeling invigorated. This was my first experience with acupuncture and during the first visit when, after she had the needles in, she said, "See you in thirty minutes. Have a nice rest." I was like, "Excuse me?? What??"

Thirty minutes? I have to lay here for thirty minutes. I don't even lay around on my couch for thirty minutes. In my own home. In that moment I was immediately reminded of a quote I read by Leighton Ford in the Daily Office book months ago:

"When I am still compulsion gives way to compunction. That is when God can break through the many layers with which I protect myself, so that I can hear his Word and be poised to listen...

I can mistake the overflow of my adrenaline for the moving of the Holy Spirit; I can live in the illusion that I am ultimately in control of my destiny and daily affairs.

Blaise Pascal observed that most of our human problems come because we don't know how to sit still in our room for an hour."

So, I did some full-lunged inhales and exhales and laid there for the complete 30 minutes. And it

was quite nice actually. I don't know if I love it yet, but these things take time. I would recommend it though. I do look forward to it and I do think it is amazing. So, we'll see.

So, I'm still dairy-free and wheat-free and sugar free. But I have had some soy crisps and a coconut based frozen dessert that I swear tastes just like ice cream.

More than giving-up of something (because now I'm facing new dietary restraints), I feel like I was really purposeful about meditating and preparing my heart this Lent season. It was an entire forty day journey. I realized that it's a daily choice we make, to live under grace and walk in freedom and joy. Our circumstances do not determine the reality of the resurrection. And I have so much to be joyful, joy-filled about and it should show on my face and in my step.

...

I took these picture yesterday morning on my walk to the train. The Church of the Holy Trinity is on 88th street between First and Second Avenue and I've been purposeful about walking past it this week. It's just gorgeously landscaped, the trees and flowers are in bloom. It makes me happy.

Lent this year was a lesson for me in setting aside time for quiet. To walk slower and take notice. To me what may seem unproductive and boring is necessary. It's nourishment to my spirit, it's at the core of who I am. How can I hear if I'm not quiet? How can I receive if I don't calm down and just sit, opening myself up and "lift up my heart" as I read on a banner hanging outside another church I passed earlier this week? I felt like that banner was there for me, that I had walked one block too far and had to turn around just to see that banner: "Lift up your heart."

So, for me Lent was more than what I could sacrifice and realizing he's already given the ultimate sacrifice. As our pastor stated in a recent sermon, "he is our scapegoat" and that image has truly helped me.

Lent has reinforced and reminded me that body, mind and soul- they are more integrated and more intertwined than I'd like to admit at times. Reading the Easter story and reflecting on the life of Christ during the week surrounding his death, burial, and resurrection, reminded me of how he was 100% God and 100% man, and he's walked this earth. And I find great hope in that.