Walking The Pilgrim Way of Lent

The Fourth Day in Lent
Walking The Pilgrim Way of Lent

Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone.
- Richard Rodgers, from the play Carousel

During my (Gary) 2019 pilgrimage across Spain, I encountered paths worn several feet below the natural grade of the surrounding landscape. These were sections of the Camino where the footsteps of countless pilgrims had, for more than a thousand years, gradually cut a way through the wilderness. I was literally walking in the footsteps of the faithful—adding my steps to the millions of footsteps that had preceded me, while doing my part to keep the path clear for those who will come after me.

We have begun the annual spiritual pilgrimage that the Church calls Lent. We began the journey with ashes, and in a few weeks we will stand before an empty tomb. Along the way, through the pages of this devotional, we will be reflecting together on how this annual journey assists us in cultivating the fruit of the Spirit in our daily lives. This is both a familiar journey and one that is new every time we undertake it.

The truth is, at least from a Christian perspective, the spiritual journey is never a completely solitary one. We benefit from the wisdom of those who have gone before us. We are supported by those who are along the way with us. As the writer of Hebrews so beautifully states, we are “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.” For me, this awareness is a great comfort during times of joy and sorrow; in times of celebration and of loss. We may be “by ourselves,” but we never walk alone!

Making it Personal: How will you walk through Lent this year, and with whom? Who are the people—past and present—that make up your “great cloud of witnesses” during this Lenten journey?

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Listen To Our Lent Podcast Episodes

We also invite you to listen to the Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast hosted by Scott Stoner. This is a year-round, weekly podcast; however, during Lent, there will be two new episodes each week to enrich your experience of our Lenten readings on Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit.

You can listen to the podcast on our website by clicking HERE. You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast listening app (Apple, Google, Spotify, etc.)—just search for Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness

Preparing the Soil

The Third Day in Lent
Preparing the Soil

The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.
- Wendell Berry

Before a gardener or farmer plants seeds, they first prepare the soil. Jesus knew this as he told the Parable of the Sower to remind us that the quality of the soil of our lives determines whether seeds are able to take root and thrive.

People often choose to either give something up or take something on for Lent. Giving something up, like sugar, alcohol, busyness, gossiping, etc., is analogous to removing rocks or weeds from the soil of our spiritual lives. We all have habits that make it more difficult for spiritual fruit to take deeper root in our lives. Making a conscious choice to change these habits can be an important turning point in preparing our spiritual soil.

On the other hand, taking something on for Lent can be compared to adding good nutrients to our soil. Making a commitment to pray or meditate every day, reading Scripture regularly, or connecting more deeply with a faith community are positive ways we can enrich the ground of our spiritual lives.

While John the Baptist’s words to “prepare the Way of the Lord” are most commonly heard during Advent, they serve as timely advice for us now this Lent as we prepare to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

Making it Personal: Are you giving something up this Lent? Taking something new on? How else might you prepare for cultivating the fruit of the Spirit more intentionally in your life during the season of Lent and beyond?

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Listen To Our Lent Podcast Episodes

We also invite you to listen to the Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast hosted by Scott Stoner. This is a year-round, weekly podcast; however, during Lent, there will be two new episodes each week to enrich your experience of our Lenten readings on Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit.

You can listen to the podcast on our website by clicking HERE. You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast listening app (Apple, Google, Spotify, etc.)—just search for Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness

The Fruit of the Spirit

The Second Day in Lent
The Fruit of the Spirit

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
- Galatians 5:22–23

The passage above from Galatians provides the foundation for our Lent devotional this year. Whether we stay consistent with the original passage and refer to the “fruit” of the Spirit or speak of the “fruits” of the Spirit, these nine spiritual qualities are the bedrock of living a Christian life.

Each week, we will delve into one of these fruits of the Spirit. Next week, our focus will be on faithfulness. In the following weeks, leading up to Holy Week, we will explore peace, joy, generosity, patience, and love. The remaining three fruits: gentleness, kindness, and self-control, will be interwoven throughout our devotional, ensuring a continuous focus on all nine fruits of the Spirit.

A core teaching of our Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Initiative is “Whatever we pay attention to is what will grow.” As we commit to observing Lent this year by paying attention to these nine fruits of the Spirit over the next six weeks, we will seek to grow each of these attributes in our lives, relationships, and the wider community.

Just as you would tend a garden, we invite you to “water” these fruits during Lent by setting aside time each day for reading, prayer, journaling, and sharing with others. Paying attention in these ways will surely help the Spirit grow these fruits in us.

Making it Personal: What do you think of the idea that “Whatever we pay attention to is what will grow”? How do you intend to pay attention to cultivating and growing the fruits of Spirit in you this Lent?

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Listen To Our Lent Podcast Episodes

We also invite you to listen to the Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast hosted by Scott Stoner. This is a year-round, weekly podcast; however, during Lent, there will be two new episodes each week to enrich your experience of our Lenten readings on Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit.

You can listen to the podcast on our website by clicking HERE. You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast listening app (Apple, Google, Spotify, etc.)—just search for Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

Ash Wednesday
Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
- From the Ash Wednesday liturgy

The children’s song “Ring Around the Rosie” is memorable as much for its words as the actions that go with it. Holding hands and moving in a circle, we either all fall down or all jump up, as we sing:

Ring around the Rosie
Pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down!

Ash Wednesday is memorable in a similar way. The profound words, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” combined with the act of receiving the sign of the cross on our foreheads, means we are sure to carry this powerful message with us through the remainder of Lent.

Humility is at the heart of Ash Wednesday. To observe a holy Lent is to practice humility. It means softening our hearts and opening them to new learning and growth. It is to make changes (or repent) in order to live more fully into the life that God intends for us.

While humility is not one of the nine fruit of the Spirit spelled out in Galatians 5 that we will be focusing on in this devotional, it is foundational ground for the fruits of love, peace, joy, kindness, patience, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Life has a way of humbling us at times, of causing us to fall down. Ash Wednesday is an invitation to embrace our fragility and vulnerability. As people of faith, falling down is not something to fear, for we fall knowing that our faith and our God will help us rise up in new and unforeseen ways.

Ash Wednesday reminds us also of our mortality, that life is short. Many churches offer a wonderful benediction that speaks to this, based on words from Henri-Frédéric Amiel:

Life is short,
And we do not have much time
to gladden the hearts of those who
make the journey with us.
So … be swift to love,
and make haste to be kind.
And the blessing of God,
who made us,
who loves us,
and who travels with us
be with you now and forever.

This benediction inspires us to be “swift to love and make haste to be kind.” Love and kindness, it just so happens, are two fruits of the Spirit we will be focusing on cultivating through this devotional during Lent.

The ashes of humility and contemplating our mortality can become fertile soil for deepening our spiritual lives and enhancing the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.

I pray that it will be so for all of us this Lent. 

Making it Personal: How might practicing humility help you cultivate the fruits of the spirit this Lent? What areas of your life might benefit from “softening” and opening to new growth?

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Listen To Our Lent Podcast Episodes

We also invite you to listen to the Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast hosted by Scott Stoner. This is a year-round, weekly podcast; however, during Lent, there will be two new episodes each week to enrich your experience of our Lenten readings on Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit.

You can listen to the podcast on our website by clicking HERE. You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast listening app (Apple, Google, Spotify, etc.)—just search for Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness