Take It Easy
As we head into the sixth month of operations in the Center for Wellbeing and Care, it is worth coming back to some basic definitions. We have six areas of wellbeing in our Christian view of human flourishing – emotional/mental, relational, vocational, financial, physical – but all of the areas are grounded in spiritual wellbeing. Spiritual wellbeing is the heart of all that we do at Christ Church and in the Center for Wellbeing and Care.
We define spiritual wellbeing as a connection with God that nurtures and inspires our life.
Today is Ash Wednesday. The season of Lent is the forty-day period in which we ready our hearts for the joyful announcement of resurrection on Easter morning. For many people, Lent brings with it memories of “giving things up” and a renewed focus on confession and repentance. These are all good things. They are necessary at times in the life of every Christian, but Lent is not meant to be a dour season.
The Good News of the Gospel that we celebrate on Easter is true every day and in every season. God has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves – God has made us enough.
There is a way to approach Lent that carries with it a heavy burden. We think to ourselves – consciously or subconsciously – that we must work harder at my faith. We come to Lent the same way we come to a New Year’s Resolution or a new commitment to fitness: I don’t want to do this thing but I know I’m supposed to.
I recently heard Richard Rohr say that we often approach Lent with the subtle thought, “Maybe this Lent God will love me.”
What if you never change? What if God loves you exactly as you are – in your weakness, failures, and habitual sin?
The Carmelite monk and author Marc Foley has a deep little book called The Context of Holiness: Psychological and Spiritual Reflections on the Life of St. Therese of Lisieux. Using the life of St. Therese, a saint known as The Little Flower, Foley shows that our actual lives are the context for our holiness.
At one point, Foley mentions the growth that he has experienced over his life and thirty years of spiritual and psychological formation. But he points out that in moments of stress all the old fears that he has dealt with his whole life pop up once again. Foley writes, “I say to myself, ‘When will I be rid of this fear?’ Once I could accept the answer, ‘Never.’, I felt a great weight taken off my shoulders for I was released from the impossible goal of trying to become someone other than myself. ‘Working on yourself’ can be an insidious mask of self-hatred for it makes you feel there is something wrong with you until you are ‘healed’.”
My invitation to you is to come back to the reality that God has already called you beloved. God has already made you whole. You can relax and take it easy this Lent. You can take on practices that help you rest in the grace of God. You can give up things that stand in way of the mercy and peace that Christ offers you in every moment. That is spiritual wellbeing – the peace that surpasses all understanding. (Philippians 4:7)
The worship collective The Porter’s Gate has a gorgeous song that will be my soundtrack for Lent this year. It is a good reminder to Take it Easy.