So what did we learn during this Lenten season? We learned that we are not perfect, and that we hurt people, and that we can be irritating, and that we care. We learned that other people don’t always understand us, and that we need to try harder. We learned that we sin, and that sinning is a hard habit to break. And we recognize that the world sins, and we often benefit from that.
Lent is always a time when we see things in ourselves that are hard, that are challenging, that give us wisdom. This is a great opportunity, and the point is to keep learning. The worst choice would be to work so hard to come to this and then walk away because the period for personal introspection is over, and go back to pretending not to know.
We can rejoice to know these things about ourselves, and work to form new, healthy and life-giving habits that overcome our challenges at least a little. We can celebrate the glimpse of what we might become, what we have always hoped to become, and adjust our journey.
We can realize that daily study and prayer are absolutely possible, that not complaining makes us happier, that we don’t need all the stuff we buy and that plastic is a problem we are going to have to keep working on. All good.
Lent is not the only time we try to be better, just a concentrated and communal time. For myself, I pray that I can keep pushing back against my sins and finding a little more good in me every day. I pray that for you as well!