Are you acquainted with the tradition of giving something up for Lent? Are you also acquainted with a natural principle I learned from Concordia-Chicago’s Dr. Steinmann that “nature abhors a vacuum”? If we give up one thing for Lent, does something else just take its place?
What if we added something to our life for Lent—something we wanted to add permanently that also pushed out of our life something we never wanted in the first place? What if we concentrated on just one daily practice so that it became a constant element in our life, like reading and re-reading (or memorizing) the Daily Bread passage? What if we practiced remembering to pray instead of being frustrated or anxious in traffic or waiting at the store or doctor’s office? What if the resurrection of Jesus and His inspired Word daily raised our consciousness of what His life means for ours?