As I was preparing this week’s post on the approach of Lent 2021 (Wednesday, February 17 – Saturday, April 3), I recalled this one from the past. It is worth sharing again, with a few edits. Part Two, next week, will include a recent, nerve-wracking experience with technology. The widgets of life, my friends, can accumulate stealthily.

I had what is now frequently – and I think quaintly – described as a “fundamentalist” upbringing. We were pretty fundamental in our views about a host of things, including the rituals of mainline denominations.

But, over time, my curiosity was piqued about the feasts and fasts of the religious calendar year. I had conversations with friends whose churches faithfully marked and celebrated those days. From them I learned that these were not rituals at all. They were signposts throughout the year that urged: “Remember the Lord here.”

And they do.

I decided to observe the 40 days of Lent. That first year I gave up dessert.

Before you chuckle and try to pat me on the head, may I say that the doing of or the refraining from Lenten resolutions are to act as triggers to remind us of the Lord’s sacrifice.

Believe me, with my sweet tooth, I thought about the Lord a lot during that first Lenten season.

So a few years later, as Lent approached, I had a conversation with a friend about stuff. Boxes of stuff that needed going through. Accumulation. Excess.

This is a rather painful subject for me. Some years ago, after the sudden death of my father, my siblings and I had to liquidate the aggregation of 57 years of marriage in the space of 2 weeks. Trying to navigate through those physical reminders of their lives and make those hundreds of decisions while deep in grief was, and I do not overstate this, a nightmare.

I have often thought about those terrible days: What if I get hit by the proverbial truck tomorrow? Would I want my husband and children to be faced with the garage? Or my cupboards or drawers or boxes?

No.

I decided that I would begin decumulating. This is a word I made up, but it states perfectly my point.

Since I had not been decumulating rapidly enough, I decided to make it my Lenten resolution that year. Each week during Lent I would:

• throw away
• give away
• or list on Craigslist (or, nowadays, FB Marketplace)

one or more stored items.

Or:

I would go through one box in my garage.

And as I did, I would remember that Jesus, my Great Example, traveled light. He calls me to take up my cross of discipleship and follow Him. That can be difficult tethered to large quantities of accumulation.

My stuff, I sternly addressed my Self, is my responsibility. So deal with it.

And remember the Lord as you do.

Have you made a Lenten resolution? Share your thoughts below in “Leave a Comment.”

(Photo by Karl Egger at Pixabay)