A Lenten Challenge
“Lord, help me be the person my dog thinks I am.” (Anon) – my Lenten challenge this year.
Lent
Lent is the period preceding Easter in the Christian church devoted to abstinence, penitence, and reflection, commemorating Christ’s fasting in the wilderness. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (February 22, 2023), and ends on Holy Saturday (April 8) These 40 days comprise 57,600 moments of 2023’s 525,600 total. *
One fourth of Americans, approximately eighty million people, mainly Christians, observe Lent, though any person of faith can participate, finding the disciplines helpful in their journey of faith.
Lent is known as the time of “bright sadness,” as pilgrims experience a period of grief followed by joy.
But Lent, derived from the Anglo-Saxon term, “lencten,” also refers to the lengthening of days, which occurs during this period. For Christians, the renewal of life in nature is tied closely to the resurrection of Jesus, but whatever one’s religious stance, everyone can rejoice as the dark days of winter slowly give way to the lighter longer days of spring:
Bulbs, seemingly dead in their underground encasements, burst forth in a profusion of color, buds swell on branches, plants, seemingly dead, wake up, sprouting sprout verdant green, robins bound sturdily across the lawn singing their cheery roundelay.
Chronos and Kairos Time
The Greeks called this passing of sequential time, season by season, month by month, moment by moment, Chronos; however, they designated another time as Kairos, which has to do with the quality of the moments we spend – moments when Eternity breaks through our everyday lives,infusing them with spirituality.
Snack
These are the moments I experience as I journey through Lent with our Welshie, Snack, trying to be the person she thinks I am. I spend lots of time with her, so I have lots of time to practice.
Since Snack, a retired show dog, was gifted to us by her breeder two years ago, she’s woven herself into the fabric of our lives. She’s now a certified therapy dog, no small feat for a breed known to be feisty and independent. She’s definitely got our number: “You may have adopted me, but I own you.” No, she can’t speak in words, but her eyes speak volumes.
When Snack brings me her ball, she expects to play fetch. When she heads to the door on her cat-like paws, it’s time to head out. She has a nose like a grizzly. If a dog’s nose is their newspaper, Snack reads an entire Wall Street Journal on our morning “sniffaris.” She has virtual summits with friends along the way.
She strains on her leash, nose aquiver, tail wagging. “Isn’t life great, Mum?” Truth be known, I don’t walk Snack; she walks me. Though I know she’ll chase anything that moves, it’s hard to imagine her hunting badgers, fox, and vermin, what Welsh terriers were bred to do.
If she meets a dog and has a disagreement, they go at each other, then shake it off and go their separate ways, harboring no grudges or resentments – oh that we, humans, could be so wise!
Snack is my moral compass. No little white lie or dishonesty is worth something untoward happening to her.
I’m besotted with this dog. She inspires love, loyalty, patience, reliability, goodness, and joy. I will do anything for her – including letting her go when her Kairos time is up, though I cannot imagine life without her.
“Lord, help me to be the person Snack thinks I am.”
*The number 40, designating time periods, appears 146 times in Scripture, and is thought by religious scholars to signify new life, transformation, or a change from one great task to another – the completion in the realization of an event. (Fathers of Mercy.com)
janet hasselbring 