A New Day

This morning, the weather cooperated and the streets were clear enough for me to run outside without risking life and limb. I think that I’ve logged more miles on the treadmill this year than in the previous 5 years combined! However, I will say that I’ve discovered the treadmill to be an excellent way to get in my hill workouts. 

Mike texted me last night to say he couldn’t meet me, so I was on my own. As I took to the streets this morning, I was greeted by a most wonderful sound: the chirping of birds! I didn’t have any ear buds pumping music or podcasts into my head, and for that I’m deeply grateful.  Throughout the course of my entire run, I listened to the joyous sound of birds greeting the rising sun and announcing spring’s arrival.

Today is Ash Wednesday. In the cycle of the church year, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of a season called “Lent.” The word Lent comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning “spring.” For Christians, Lent is a time for spiritual house-cleaning. We commit to living and acting in ways that are designed to get our lives more aligned with the way of Jesus. We call these things that we do spiritual disciplines.”  My personal spiritual discipline this Lent is to pray through the Psalms. I want the Psalms to take up residence with me, shape me, challenge me, and speak to God on my behalf.

Today, instead of starting with the first Psalm, I’m beginning with Psalm 51. This Psalm is traditionally prayed on Ash Wednesday as a kind of call to worship. One of the central requests that the psalmist makes of God is this:

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

 ¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.

 ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:10-12)

Many people find Ash Wednesday and the whole Lenten thing to be a bit of a slog. I find it to be rather hopefully. It’s deeply restorative for me. It’s an opportunity for healing and a new start. That’s what was so delightful about the singing of the birds this morning. Their song was creation’s call to worship on this day.

I’ve shared my tale of woe regarding my string of injuries that prevented me from running and racing last year. I’m running regularly now, working on strength and flexibility, and will be running a half-marathon next month. But for some reason I’ve been hesitant to officially register for my fall marathon. I’ve made my hotel reservations because those can always be cancelled. Race registration, on the other hand, are non-refundable. In the back of my mind there is that “what if.” There’s always going to be that possibility, and I could dwell in hesitancy and fear.  But that’s not living.

That’s why I find Lent helpful. It helps us to release our fears, our brokenness, and all that is killing us so that we can embrace more fully God’s promise. As Martin Luther said:

“This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”  

P.S. If you're looking for a Lenten discipline, check out this devotional project I've put together this year.