Lent, Day 19: The Difficult Middle

The halfway point in Lent may be the most difficult part of the fast/journey

If you are observing Lent with a fast and acts of spiritual focusing, you’ve arrived at the eve of the halfway point. Tomorrow will mark twenty fast days (not counting the three Sunday feast days).

How’s it going for you?

If you are simply interested in the practice of Lent and casually checking in, for whatever reason, welcome!

This is the point of wide divergence in extended communal fasting. This is the difficult middle. It’s when fasting can seem foolish and trite and, thus, dispensable. Or, it’s when fasting can trigger a “dig in and do this thing—no matter what” motivation. There are devotees of organized Christian religion who would never think of dismissing or discounting their Lenten fast. And there are people of equal spiritual integrity and inquisitiveness who legitimately second-guess or drop the scheme midstream.

To fast from anything for forty days requires significant discipline from anyone. But for some of us, simply focusing on any one thing for forty days is unusual and unprecedented within the calendar of our lives. It may have little to do with spirituality. It may have more to do with one’s emotional and physiological setup and inclinations. Folks with some level of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) may actually forget their intended daily Lenten trajectory in lieu of more immediate challenges and turns of events.

I frequently find myself in this boat. I have disciplined myself to think longitudinally. I have completed many courses of study, hold two graduate degrees, have seen multiple-year projects through, and invested in and helped nurture four children into responsible, independent, and thriving adulthood. I can do long term! But my default, natural proclivity is to give myself to whatever is momentary, crisic, and experiential.

That physiological reality, for me, makes every Lenten fast a plausible challenge. It’s not about love for God and neighbors or devotion to the best of the faith I’ve been taught and have taught others. It’s about steady focus on an ancient practice that frequently seems trivial and pales in comparison to pressing challenges of a world and community in crisis.

In Lent, I am called upon—we are called upon—to maintain focus, to fend off temptations to throw in the towel, to keep the fast to the end, and anticipate what may be learned, known, and experienced in no other way. 

We’re in the difficult middle. Hang in there!