Ash Wednesday - Crosses We Bear Some are straw, some iron Bestowed yet some are chosen Borne through grace of God

Theme for Lent 2014

My word for 2014 is Explore, so beneath my lenten practices this year, I want to use the daily prayer practice of Examen to sift through and become of aware of what brings me closer to God and increase those practices - and what leads me away from God and nibble away at eliminating those practices. What aries immediately to the latter is my habit of procrastination and the many niggling things I put off doing daily. Paperwork is my nemesis. I used to admire my husband - upon going through daily mail, he paid bills, immediately filed receipts he needed to keep for tax or other purposes and then trashed the remainder. I end up with sacks or boxes of "papers" I keep "just because." As I ponder on this, I wonder if these stacks of clutter are a reflexion of the inner clutter of who I am? And is it a way of hiding from what I need to clear internally? If there are too many internal distractions, it may keep me from addressing serious issues that I need to look at and discard. So maybe if I copy my husband's model of how to handle paperwork, it will be a good habit to get into with the outside clutter. And then apply it to the interior clutter in the same way - bite off a little each day.

Come Back To Me With All Your Heart