Friday in the Second Week of Lent

Author’s note: Today’s meditation is a contribution of Beth Frank, one of my EFM mentors and good friend.

Have you ever caught a glimpse of ABC’s TV show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”? A deserving family is sent away and its cramped, substandard housing is dramatically changed according to what designers think the family and its members want and need. Lent can be approached as an annual opportunity for an extreme makeover of the spiritual kind. My designs are always grand. Yet after 15-20 days of attempted execution and often massive failure, the results often reveal only a subtle transformation of “light housekeeping” rather than a radical redesign or knocking down of walls.

Let’s step back today and take stock of how we are doing this Lent. This isn’t a pass/fail test, but rather an honest assessment of our daily routines. Are we thriving during this time of discipline or resentful of the commitments we have made (or broken)? How are we receiving and responding to God’s unconditional love and grace? How are we living the Gospel as members of the Body of Christ?

God of the here and now, help us to self-correct if our Lenten disciplines are not bringing us closer to you. While we may seek an extreme makeover this Lent, sustain us with the subtle transformations of light housekeeping so that we may draw ever closer to Thee. Amen.

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About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.