The church is in the season of Lent. It’s usually centered in prayerful reflection, meditation, fasting, and varying spiritual disciplines to bring about the death not just to self, but the community of Christ.

Personally, it’s been hard to focus during this time of Lent. As normal, things get busy on varying levels. I am no person privy to busy-ness. We’re bent on leading what we might call “pinball” lives – bouncing from one thing to the next. And such has been descriptive of my life.

This week is Spring Break and I have today, as well as tomorrow, off. One treasures those days off. I’m going to take time to simply remember to be, not do. As one wise person has once remarked, we are first human beings, not human doings.

Creating opportunities to be will look different for different folk. It’s not simply “vegging out,” though spending some time enjoying a film or something of that sort is no problem. But I’m going to pick up a spiritual classic, read prayerfully, listen, take walks, enjoy things at a slow, patient pace. There is a certain amount of spiritual detox involved.

It is a wilderness time of sorts during Lent. Dryness is a reality. Exhaustion is a reality. Time to remember that we do not live on bread (or busy-ness) alone, but by every word that proceeds from God’s mouth.