A Lenten lesson from a bicyclist

The other day, I saw a man riding his bicycle on a busy street at rush hour. He wasn’t even glancing at the road. He was focused on his phone, his eyes steady on the screen in his hand.

He pedaled along, certain that he would be fine, never looking up from his phone.

Maybe his guardian angel had one hand on the handlebars and an eye on the road for him. I couldn’t say. But the man kept pedaling along, an image of serenity and calm in a sea of traffic.

The disconcerting image of that bicyclist keeps coming to mind for me. He seemed confident and cool, unconcerned with his surroundings, moving along through life. I watched him, holding my breath, and staying carefully out of his way. He seemed perfectly content to pedal along, unperturbed and unaware of the world around him.

Here we are walking through Lent. Ash Wednesday wasn’t long ago, but already the sacrifices may feel heavy. Sometimes I feel that this first full week of Lent is the hardest, with the newness of Ash Wednesday behind us and Easter so far in the distance. But these days are so rich with opportunity. Every day—multiple times a day—God invites us to draw closer to him.

As we continue along our Lenten journey, though, it can be easy to overlook those invitations from God. Everything else is competing for our attention. Like the bicyclist, we might be pedaling blindly through traffic assuming we are headed in the right direction. Maybe we are.

There is something about the Lenten journey, though, that invites us to become more aware of who we are, how we interact with those around us, and to encounter God in the simplest moments.

Maybe, just maybe, we need to take a minute to get off the bicycle, notice what’s happening around us, and figure out whether we’re on the right path. Even if we are, maybe there’s a way to course correct a bit with some time in prayer.

So far, this has not been the Lent I imagined it would be. I had planned to fill a basket with names, drawing one name each day as our intention. Then Lent started with such a storm of busyness that I never sat down to write out the names.

For the first few days, I felt guilty, but I also noticed that we had no shortage of intentions. Almost every day we’ve become aware of someone in need of prayers. And found myself realizing—as I have past Lents too—that God is shaping the Lent he knows I need. But it’s easier for him to shape that if I’m not pedaling along with my attention focused elsewhere.

Lent is young, and we have such a beautiful opportunity to grow in love for Jesus in the days ahead. What a wonderful journey this can be. Let’s make the most of this time and pause to notice how God is showing us his love as we go.

“God is a God of the present,” Father Henri Nowen said. “God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful or painful… That’s why Jesus came to wipe away the burden of the past and the worries for the future. He wants us to discover God right where we are, here and now.”

Let’s keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open—ready to encounter Jesus in a new way on our Lenten journey.

Image by Roberto Lee Cortes from Pixabay

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