A Two-Part Plan for Lent

A Two-Part Plan for Lent: Human and Divine

The most sacrificial and most difficult Lent I ever had was when my spiritual director said, “Mike, your life is out of control. You need to live a well-ordered and balanced life this Lent.”

But to live a balanced life, we can’t just cut out one bad habit. We need a two-fold plan to achieve this: a human plan and a divine plan. Today we’ll talk about the human plan. Tomorrow, the divine or spiritual plan.

As humans God designed us to need specific good things in our life:

a.  Physical goods such as sleep, food, drink and exercise

b.  Relationships with Family and Friends

c.   Achievement or Accomplishment – that is, the way we way we make the world a better place

d.  Truth

e.  Beauty

This Lent you should go through that list of human needs and assess where your life is lacking in them.

If it’s beauty, try to take a walk outside every day. Or listen to beautiful music. Read beautiful writing, like The Count of Monte Cristo or Les Mis. Or watch a game and be surprised by the excellence of the athletes rather than only caring about who wins.

For Lent I’m going to sit down every night and look through a coffee table book full of paintings from the Vatican while I listen to the instrumental band Covet.

Wherever your life is lacking balance right now, make a plan this Lent, not just to kick a bad habit, but to replace it with better ones.