It was inevitable, of course. There would come a day in Lent when I simply could not, did not get to the word-a-day practice I have been following along with many photographers.,musing one word to produce an image that tells a story of a single word. This practice or challenge depending on how you look at it was going well…and then yesterday I simply did not get to it. The irony? Yesterday’s word was ‘live’.
So today I am going to combine yesterday’s word with today’s. Because it is Sunday today’s word is once again…’Celebrate’. Each of the six Sundays leading up to Easter Sunday has this same word for reflection. Last week I noted that each Sunday in Lent is meant to be a ‘little Easter’, a celebration.

As I think about the word ‘live’ I am reminded of the quote attributed to Albert Einstein “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” The first time I heard those words I remember feeling a sense of deep knowing wash over me. Yes. And since I am in the camp of the second statement it was as if a door was flung open. Miracles weren’t just the stuff of ancient story or Hallmark channel movies. No. Miracles are the stuff of the every day, of every living.

Though Lent is often relegated to being a time of penance and sacrifice, how much greater might its observance be to our lives if we became more and more open to the miracle of our living. If the practice of reflection on the life of Jesus became a practice of our living, of our unpacking the miracles present in his message-living to us of compassion, justice and unconditional love. To embrace this miracle laced living would become a life of celebration, wouldn’t it?

What keeps us from seeing the miracle of living in the every day? For me it is distraction, mostly, I think. And anxiety. And envy. And maybe even greed. Certainly competition and comparison. Each of these removes me from facing the beautiful and the terrible that give our lives texture and interest. Jesus was known to have said something like ‘I have come so you might have life and have it more abundantly.’ Life in abundance is something we all hope for, isn’t it? What would that abundant life look like for you? 

When it is over,this season of Lent is meant to find us at a deeper spiritual place than when we began. If we pay attention and stay awake to its gifts, these days can help us ‘live’ more fully, reaching deeper into our spiritual well. In that reaching, our thirst for a more abundant life might become our own experience of resurrection. 

And that would indeed be a cause to celebrate.