Still no chocolate.  The struggle continues. ...  No. End. In. Sight.

Seriously.  I like Lent.  I always have.  I don’t know what that says about me since I also enjoy the feastly times like Christmas and Easter a great deal too.  But this season has always had an odd connection for me: There was a time back in the early 80s when I was out of work and out of school and had nothing—and I felt absolutely free and alive as though the whole world was before me and I was on the threshold of an adventure.  It’s the closest I think I’ve ever been to getting a glimmer of what St. Francis felt about the joys of Lady Poverty.  For some reason, Lent always feels like that to me.  I love the astringency of it—the barrenness that is not misery but something more like a beach with a clean sea breeze blowing in your face and hair.  It’s like the chance to start all over.

What does Lent mean to you?