Lent 2020: Returning to Center

It was a rough meeting, and I needed to leave the room calmly to get some air. I excused myself and looked for an empty room where I could gather myself, reclaim my center, but all the rooms down the hall were taken. For an instant, I panicked, but soon realized I didn’t need an empty room. I could breathe right where I was. My center was just where I left it.

As we head toward Lent, which begins this Wednesday, each of us has the opportunity to reclaim our center. For some, that might mean excusing ourselves from our chaotic lives, if only for a moment. For others, it might mean something more substantial like a season-long practice or discipline. And for others, it might involve finding the kind of empty room a retreat can provide. However it happens, what I learned that morning is something to keep in mind no matter how we decide to re-center this Lent: our centers are right where we left them! All we need to do is decide to return. 

However we choose to do so, may we find our way back to center, back to our true selves, back to “home” . . . back to God.

Happy Lent.