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| First of the series taken on Ash Wednesday |
Scanning through my Facebook feed shortly before Ash
Wednesday I saw a post of a friend telling about choosing to give up color for
Lent and inviting her into this journey with her by posting our own black and
white photo each day. The idea intrigued me and I was still not sure what my
practice for Lent was to be so I decided to join in. However, I did not have
guide or plan for this, it was something that would be figured out as I moved
deeper into Lent. What began as my interpretation of giving up something
quickly began to transform into a deep spiritual practice. Just like other
spiritual practices, this one had much to teach me. Now that Easter Sunday has passed, we have celebrated the resurrection and entered out of the
darkness and back into the light of Easter season, it seems appropriate to ruminate a bit here on
my experience and lessons learned.
First off,
I am a planner to the nth degree; so entering into something that is with out specific instructions and without a formed plan is very uncomfortable for me. I found myself
setting boundaries. The picture can’t be just anything and it must be something that
has some type of deep connection to the Lent journey. I must not just post the
picture, but must reflect on it a bit. These “rules” were helpful for me, until
life happened in the midst of Lent. I found myself caught up in the actives of
the day and rushing at the end to get something/anything up. Sometimes I had a
great picture but was so tired I just could not get the reflection out. The
“rules” got forgotten some days and even once I did not get a picture up. My
first lesson of this practice was grace and that even when I did not follow my
“rules” exactly the intention of the practice was there undergirding my
engagement of it. Looking back now some of my favorites of the series of photos
were the ones taken in the midst of life happening.
Second, it
was a lesson in perseverance and the importance of community. About half way
through, I was tired, really tired of remembering to take the photo and finding the words to write. I really wanted to just get to Easter and that last picture
that would finally be in color. There were moments where I truly thought about
giving it up, but instead pushed forward letting the intention of the journey carry me forward. In this time it was the comments and likes of my posted photos that
kept me engaging the practice. It was not only just me on this
journey, but those who were seeing anew through my practice. Sharing my
practice so publicly gave it new meaning for me, particularly when I myself
felt I was just slogging through. I am grateful for the encouragement of my Facebook community that came one like at a time.
Lastly, one
cannot really fully give up color unless you are unable to see in color. Color
surrounds our daily life. But looking at pieces of my life through a black and
white photo with all the color striped away, I found myself seeing to the heart
of the photo. I saw my family in a new way and in a deeper way; I saw to the
center and deep heart of love. Without
color to distract my soul I saw in a new way and connected to my life in a much
deeper way. I discovered that black and white is color. It is the color of seeing
past the surface and into the depth of what is truly happening in that moment
in time.
My Holy
week took on a completely different meaning as I prayed each picture I took. I
found myself savoring each day of the week with a slow pace to Easter instead
of the rushing push to get to the happy part.
I have seen
Lent and Holy Week in a wholly different way and with it came seeing my world
with new eyes and at a deeper level. Because of this way of engaging my journey
to Easter, the Easter colors became so much more vibrant, celebratory and meaning filled. For that and so much more I am giving thanks.
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| Easter Sunrise |
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