Living as a Child of God: A Lenten Practice

Lent is once again upon us, and with it the challenge to “give up” a certain bad habit, temptation, or vice. The theme my church is using during Lent is “Clinging and Letting Go”. During the weeks leading to Easter we are challenged to let go of the things that we turn to for meaning, or things that get in the way of trusting God, and to cling to the gift of life Jesus offers us.

I had never really participated in the Lenten tradition before, but decided to this year. Some of the suggestions were to let go of excessive spending, working overtime, or using technology unnecessarily. All of these are good things to let go of, and would probably bring their own gifts. But, as I was thinking of what I could practice this season in order to be drawn closer to God, none of the usual Lenten practices seemed to fit.

Over the past several months, and particularly the last six weeks, I have found myself reflecting in new ways on who I am. And each day I have found myself becoming increasingly discouraged and frustrated. It seemed all around me were voices telling me who I am, but all the things those voices said were negative. I’ve begun to realize that, while all the voices of the media, culture, religion, politics, family, and education may indeed say something of who I am, as I listened to those voices I was forgetting my true identity as a child of God.

My Sunday school class at church has been studying Henri Nouwen’s book Here and Now. The last chapter is entitled “Who We Are”. In this chapter Nouwen says that the answers we usually live are “We are what we do, we are what others say about us, and we are what we have”.

“One of the tragedies of our life is that we keep forgetting who we are and waste a lot of time and energy to prove what doesn’t need to be proved. We are God’s beloved daughters and sons, not because we have proven ourselves worthy of God’s love, but because God freely chose us. It is very hard to stay in touch with our true identity because those who want our money, our time, and our energy profit more from our insecurity and fears than from our inner freedom.”

“Wherever we are there are voices saying: ‘Go here, go there, buy this, buy that, get to know him, get to know her, don’t miss this, don’t miss that,’ and so on and on. These voices keep pulling us away from that soft gentle voice that speaks in the center of our being: ‘You are my beloved, on you my favor rests.’”

I had been clinging to those voices who were telling me who I am until I no longer knew who I am as a child of God. I wonder what it means to be made in the image of the Creator of the Universe? or to be held in the arms of the Healer of the World? or to be filled with the joy of the One Who Breathes Life? And so during these weeks of Lent I will be practicing letting go of those other voices, and clinging to the voice of God who tells me I am BELOVED. Each morning I pray that God would show me how to live as a child of God, and each night I write who I am.

Not every day is easy to live this. Sometimes I forget about it. But I am already learning that when I am living in ways that truly express who I am, when I know in my core that I am loved, when I am free and joyful, is when I hear distinctly the voice of God whispering “This is how I love you”.