Halfway through Lent!

We are currently halfway through Lent, and I have to ask that dreaded question: how's that giving-something-up going? You couldn't do it, either? Man! Stupid Lent!

We have the annual self-abusing statements about what we are able or not able to accomplish during Lent, and the halfway point is always tough. It's like when you are running and you push yourself and you say "I can see the end of the next block; I just have to get there" because that's your first marker, but when you get there, you realize that you have three more markers to go before you get home, that you've only completed the first leg, and your ambition drops until you see that second marker. Every Sunday (and Wednesday) serves as such a marker, but each one leads to that moment of dissatisfaction.

I tried to give up Diet Coke. It didn't work very well. But the truth is, I don't really see Lent that way, anyway.

I love Lent because it is a time to check things out again. Jesus doesn't journey to Jerusalem to break bread and die and rise again each year anymore than Mary gave birth to him just a couple of months ago for the 2008th time. But there is something about going through this ritual and all of these experiences once more. There is something to it, isn't there?

I hope the second half of Lent treats you better than the first half!