Bits for Sunday, February 28

This year my Lenten fast is…unusual at best.

In years past I’ve given up pop…pop again…snacks…a meal…desserts…are you seeing a theme?

I started to feel guilty about that trend, because I don’t think the purpose of Lent is to launch a diet. Then again, I wasn’t raised to observe such fasts, so what do I know?

So this year I had no intention of even participating. On the first day of Lent (that kind of makes you want to break into song, doesn’t it?) one of my friends asked me what I’d given up…and that was the first I even realized it was the first day of Lent.

That night, as I drove to church, I was doing my usual…cranking out a duet with David Phelps.

And then it became unusual. I didn’t want to sing anymore. Not with David. Not with anybody. I didn’t want the music.

Odd.

So I turned it off and just drove in silence for a minute.

And that’s when I knew.

God was asking me to turn off the music during Lent. Drive in silence. Pray. Listen.

That isn’t a big deal on work days. My commute is short enough that one of the guys in my office said, “What do you do? Say Dear Jesus…Amen?” Well, that’s fair. It’s about that short of a drive!

But just ask my parents…I’m the girl who was asking for music to blare before the keys were even in the ignition! And things have not changed. Music is always on in my car. To drive anywhere…even to work without getting through at least a chorus of something is…well…unprecedented.

I won’t lie. I was nervous. I asked God if He was aware how many days Lent covered. He was.

And yet I knew that was what He asked of me.

I haven’t kept track of how many days have passed since the start of Lent, but let the record show, I’m still here! And while I sorely miss the music (and have, a couple of times, created my own acapella serenade), I have to say I would not trade those moments God and I have shared for all the David duets in the world.

Amazing what you can think to say in the silence. Amazing what you can hear in the silence.

I’ve had to explain this fast more than a few times…it’s understandably odd. But it’s an inexplicably wonderful nudge from the Lord. I’m so glad He did it.