Lenten Repentance

The season of Lent has traditionally been seen as a call to repentance. For many of us, a call to repentance involves shame and embarrassment and it’s easy to get the message that something is fundamentally wrong with us. We can even get trapped in an unhealthy, unloving, and unproductive shame spiral around our perceived inadequacies and short comings. However, repentance is not meant to be a shameful indictment of us but an invitation to grow and change. Repentance means to change one’s mind. If we contemplate this deeply its an invitation to new life, healing, and empowerment.

The first thing about changing your mind is it tells us that we are not our thoughts. The deeper you has thoughts, ideas, and opinions but there is something deeper to you than that. So, what if we viewed changing our mind like changing our wardrobe? We had clothes that fit us and served us well for a season but the weather changed or styles changed or something else. The same can be true of our thinking. We hold certain ideas, beliefs, outlooks, and opinions. Then we encounter something new. We encounter new ideas, consider different perspectives, or encounter different situations. In short we experiene change and our old way of thinking no longer serves us. The call to repentance tells us that we’re allowed to change, that change is good, and that we’re suposed to change.

So, as you continue your lenten journey, I invite you to ask yourself questions such as: What thoughts, beliefs, and opinions no longer serve me? What new information would I need to change my mind about something I’m struggling with? Is there a deeper truth I’m being invited into?

Peace and blessings to you on your journey towards healing, peace, and empowerment in whatever forms these take!