February 29, 2012

Dear Family of faith,
Happy Leap Day! Why add the extra day at the end of February instead of at the end of the year? Well, before Christ was born the Romans began their year in March (which is why we have those strange prefixes for our months: Sept, Oct, Nov, and Dec (for the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th months respectively). That left February as the last month of the year, and thus the extra day needed was added then. Since this day exists on the calendar only every four years, I hope that you are doing something special to celebrate!
How is your Lent going? I have been pondering the changes that I need to make in my own life. Yesterday I heard a man say, "All my life other people have been telling me what to do, who to be, and where to go. From this point on I'm going to be the one in charge of my life!" He was lamenting the influence of home, church, and bosses on his life and was now living "footloose and fancy free" in a tent and moving around whenever he pleased. Although I have felt that longing for freedom like he did, I couldn't dismiss all the influences in my life as robbing me of my own dreams. Parents taught me much; the church gave me spiritual life; and the people I have worked for have financed my homes and family's needs. It so easy to be critical of others when the bondage we feel inside is really self-imposed. In my experience, those who aren't who they want to be have to look first at their own souls and the messages they tell themselves. Maybe Lent can be a time for that-- for realizing that God wants you to be real and for figuring out how you can let go of undermining that gift. Being real is the key to contentment and a joyful life.