Things don’t always unfold as I think they should.  Does that ever happen to you?  Come on, you can tell me.

Long ago, for Lent, I gave up having expectations, not that I’m Catholic or Episcopalian.  I just like the idea of Lent.  (Note to Self, write about Lent, during Lent!)  I found that I was not so successful at completely letting go of expectations, but it sure did make me more aware of the role expectations play in Life.

What brings this to mind is my recent trip to the mountains of North Carolina.  Let’s give a shout out to 75 degree weather!  Anyway, we were staying on the border of the Pisgah National Forest, where I fell in love, again, with trees.

What do trees have to do with expectations?

Expectations, if we hold them too tightly rob us of delight and peace in the unfolding moment.  Whereas, trees, ahhhhh, trees ~ their very existence demands that they be flexible.  The wind blows, they bend,  The snow falls, they bend.  They don’t seem to mind the wind and the snow.

In fact, the wind seems to empty them of their dead branches, revealing even more beauty.  So, they flow with the wind and let go of what is no longer alive.

I think we can learn from trees.

Where might you need to bend a little?

Where might flexibility open the door to delight or peace in the unfolding moment?

What expectation might you be holding on a little too tightly?

How might being a bit more flexible enrich the forest of your life?

Finally, what ideas or beliefs might you release like so many dead branches if you bent with what is, rather than with what you think should be?

I’m not one of those people who are generally late.  I tend to be on time, not usually early, just on time.  Since I’ve given up driving over the speed limit for lent, I’ve encountered an unexpected consequence, tardiness.  Who knew?

Today is the beginning of Lent.  Yayyyy!  Lent is one of my all time favorite spiritual holidays.  This might sound strange as I am neither Catholic or Episcopalian.  But I LOVE the practice of time limited renunciation.

40 days of fasting.  Gotta love it.  Well, I love my take on Lent.  Here’s how it works in my head; give up something with the understanding that this “giving up” is purifying you…cleansing you from the inside so that you are more able to attune yourself to the magnificence of the TRUTH of who you are.  What’s not to love?

This year, I’ve talked my father into playing Lent with me (is that too irreverent, playing Lent?).  So he and I are giving up driving over the speed limit.  Yayyy!  He’s also neither Catholic or Episcopalian.  He doesn’t even lean in the spiritual direction, but he does like to play.  So we are playing Lent together.

I know most people give up something like meat, cigarettes, chocolate.  I think those are all great.  The last couple of years, I’ve been enjoying giving up things that are not ingestible, like driving fast.

Here are a couple of really great things that I’ve heard people talk about giving up this year:

Disappointment

Regret

Shame

Feeling Inadequate

Blame

Don’t you wanna play?  What do you want to give up?

Here's my 78 year old father jumping on top of the Zugspitz.