"Lent is the most important time of the year to nurture our inner life. Life is a continuing process of the death of the old and the familiar, and being reborn again into a new hope, a new trust, and a new love." Henri Nouwen

As we sat around the table, with the fire crackling nearby and the lake glistening right outside the screen door in what was then the dark night, we offered to one another what a word might be for our new year. This endeared group of friends has gathered for the last decade together and with each passing year we grow in tradition of how we may share in life together. One way is giving these words to one another at the start of the new year. In offering our words for the year we are often talking about death and resurrection. Mine this year was attentive.

And while I can carry on of why I picked that word, today I want to share how it connects now with my lenten practice for this year. For Lent, I'd like to give up some distraction. For Lent, I'd like to take on space to war and write and find and tell. My hope is to write once a day for 40 days. My greater hope is to land a bit. To offer one tiny way to narrow the field of opportunity for swirling and anxiety and avoidance and to sit and wander each day long enough to reflect. I want to be attentive. And I know I cannot do that for myself, or my kids, or my husband, or my neighbors, or my siblings, or my dear friends, or strangers, without allowing this space.

"But for claiming what God can do within the dust, within the dirt, within the stuff of which the world is made, and the stars that blaze in our bones and the galaxies that spiral inside the smudge we bear. " Jan Richardson

So here I begin... thank you for joining me. I hope a rich Lenten season for you too - a nurturing of the inner life. Feel free to share your learnings or hopes for this season back to me too!