Lent Is Just One Day at a Time

Abraham Lincoln said: “The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.” Ask me to give up sweets for 40 days, and I’ll say “Forget it.” But Lent is only one day at a time. Maybe we can give up sweets—or bad habits or excess time on social media or gossip—on Ash Wednesday. Maybe even the day after Ash Wednesday. And we certainly won’t break our Lenten resolution on a Friday, the day Christ died for us. But then comes Saturday. The weekend. Well . . . .

Persons with incurable disease are forced to take one day at a time. Persons who are unemployed also have one day at a time, deciding what to buy that day–food or medicine. Persons who are in prison with life sentences cannot choose but to exist from day to day. Do these persons also choose to live one day at a time?

What about us?  Do we live with Christ, offering him our sacrifices? Are we attentive to our extra prayer? Does donating money become a weekly routine rather than an act of loving service?

We have begun our Lenten journey. Every journey begins with one step. And every journey continues with one step, then another. Left, right, left, right.