Water The Seeds

I think all of us, at some point, have had the opportunity to try to grow our own plant. Perhaps it was in a garden, on a farm, or in a school classroom. Maybe you were the kid that buried a singular seed at a random spot in the neighborhood and would lightly water it with a water bottle every day you remembered, dreaming of the massive tree it would become soon. Maybe you had multiple seed spots. I definitely do not know any kids that have ever been like that.

I remember 2 distinct features about growing a plant in a styrofoam cup full of soil when I was a kid. First, not every seed grew a plant! It bothered me. They are in the same cup, same soil, same water. Why did some seeds not grow a plant? Second, I remember being surprised about how much was going on in the dirt for such a little plant. The roots were relatively long and widespread when we decided to plant the sprout in the garden.

Allow me to starkly change the topic to Lent. Lent is one of my favorite topics to write about because I think it has the possibility to be truly changing. For religious and non-religious, the core of lent is powerful. It can and should be used to be introspective in a way that is penetrating. BUT, honestly to me, it feels really difficult this year to commit to. How can I be looking so inward when everything outward feels chaotic? Does it not feel somewhat wrong to be worrying about myself with the war in Ukraine? With so many trying to re-grasp life in this weird one foot in one foot out of the pandemic world? With the extreme political divide? With families breaking? With an overall feeling of unresolved, large issues as numerous as grains of sand? Who cares about my spiritual/inner dilemmas or preparations? Our world is suffering. I should not be turning my dial down and looking inward, I should be ramping it up and looking outward!

To that voice inside me and perhaps you, you are not wrong, well not entirely wrong. The chaos of the world does make this hard. We should feel somewhat burdened by the struggle of our neighbors. Yet, this pain and desire to make it right does not oppose Lent. We have to grow down, before we sprout. I'm going to take you through my Lenten promises this year and hopefully you'll see that this Lenten season can be the beginning of the remedy.

Here's my Lenten garden recipe:

13.88 hours

What's your word for the year?

Beer Brewing

3 Night shifts

Humility's roots

5 Emails

10 Victory Points

A Sponsor Couple

Restorative Attention

13.88 hours- If I put this number out there, what do you think this would be the average of? My only hint is that it is per day. (This is filler text so that you do not try to jump straight to the answer. C'mon humor me a bit and imagine some guesses.) This is the average number of hours college students reported communicating each day in 2008. This number includes both listening (music, phone calls, TV, conversations) and writing, talking, etc. 13.88 hours! I bet that's even higher than today with social media and airpods and Iphones everywhere.

What's your word for the year?- My great friend Jake Labus asked what his LinkedIn's connections' word of the year was. Jake is the type of person who is a complete stranger to complacency. He thrives off of learning, growing, and being with people. He's a man to admire. His word of the year is witness. He wanted to be a witness to Christ and to excellence in everything throughout this year. After some self-reflection, I decided to choose the word pursuit. I wanted to be moving forward with purpose, the way Jake often seems to do. There's so many opportunities the Lord gives me each day, week, and month. I wanted to pursue these opportunities.

Beer Brewing- My first batch of beer is officially done. I absolutely loved the process, although I'm surprised by how much waiting there was. 5 hours of brewing than 2 and half weeks of waiting, then 2 hours of bottling and 2 more weeks of waiting. Finally, I got the pop, the fizz, and the taste. Well, the taste isn't great. It tastes like an IPA, bitter hints with some hoppy notes. Honestly, I was impressed. I thought it would be awful. It definitely wasn't a perfect brew. Hence, the waiting felt longer; I thought I was waiting for nothing. But alas, in a frosted glass came merry cheer for a solid beer.

3 Night shifts- I had one week recently where I worked three night shifts for intramurals. MTW. I've realized this is a tough schedule to live by because my periods of highest focus have transitioned to nighttime. It has to be that way because I'm either the boss on shift or the lead official on my court. This period of high energy nights has definitely lowered my energy in other time periods throughout the day.

Humility's roots- I very specifically remember one part of a Haanmily (A Fr. Haan homily) at Seton where he discussed the roots of the virtue humility. Humility comes from humus meaning dirt, soil, or of the earth. I love the congruity between dirt and humility. Neither take credit, neither are showy, both are foundational to many good things, both allow for true growth to exist.

5 Emails- I have a whopping 5 emails I check now. Milestone, Purdue, Will's Way, and 2 personal. Plus I also check our intramural account pretty frequently. That's a lot of bubble notifications on my phone.

10 Victory Points- I definitely hit a period of obsession with Catan. The game is unique and a mix of strategy, luck, and persuasion (if playing with real players). This mix caused me to seek it out online. I've played way too many games since then.

A Sponsor Couple- amid all the other must do's in the wedding planning world, one requirement of the Church is to meet with a sponsor couple of your parish. This... is... awesome. I love the way this practice roots spiritual and sacramental education and combines it with it in action. Chris and Monica are Shaelen and I's sponsor couple. They have a lovely marriage and cooked us a wonderful meal to just get to know us and our story. I think there should be more of this. Welcoming semi-strangers into your home for a meal and a conversation. It meant a lot to Shaelen and I and helped us feel loved.

Restorative Attention- I'm in a lot of psychology classes this semester. It's my minor and I find it fits in nicely with communication. Sometimes too nicely to the point where I hear similar concepts in 5 different ways, but most of time it provides a nice framework for my other classes. Anyway, there's been a bundle of interesting things I've learned. I want to share one with you: spending time in nature can help restore our ability to pay attention. Hence called, restorative attention. What a beautiful thing.

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I'm going to take this space to grab my microphone and speak clearly without any metaphors about Lent, then I will get back to the main blog. First and Foremost, it's fasting for lent, not giving something up. I have no problem with using giving up in place of fasting as long as what you are giving up is a fast. What's the difference? Why thank you for asking. I can give up something such as procrastination. While this is certainly a noble idea, fasting has a sense of sacrifice that is not apparent with this example. We should not be "giving up" sins or habits that should otherwise be fixed.

SECOND, when we commit to a fast over a period of time, this fast should be a sacrifice for all units of said time. Now this is my personal opinion, but I feel it's valid. Our original example, Christ, fasted from food for all 40 days. This meant each an every day he sacrificed in preparation for his ministry. So for lent, if you give up something for the 40 days, try to make it something that is a part of your daily joys. OR commit to a fast on a different time period. Maybe your work has Wednesday happy hours and you decide to give this up for Lent. That's awesome. What I'm saying is don't give up chocolate if you eat it sporadically anyway.

Third, try not to find workarounds or too close substitutions. Replacing TV with endless hours of TikTok or Ice cream with slushies just isn't quite hitting the point. When we fast and then feel the temptation, this is the time to lift that sacrifice as a prayer and testament to God, just as Christ did in the desert in the face of the Devil.

Numero Cuatro, Lent does not need to be a laundry list. One implementation of prayer, one type of fasting, one idea for alms giving above what is normal is great for lent.

Finally, this tip is stolen from my holy fiancé. During those times when we are called to sacrifice in the form of our fast or called to a deeper prayer this lent, have an intention. This intention can help us transform our prayer and stay steadfast.

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Okay, back to the normal blog, my Lenten Recipe. This recipe actually has two groups. First, are things in my life recently that remind me what I do not want. For the sake of analogy, the weeds of my garden. The second is a group of things that remind me where I want to be, the fruit of my garden.

The first group I've categorized as noise. Catan, 13.88 hours of communication, my many emails, and my inability to calm down without my phone and white noise after a night shift are all in this category.

The second group is peaceful, intentional, and permits growth. I love the way beer needs nothing but time for it to grow in flavor and carbonation. Only particles beyond the ability of the eye are working. I love the way nature promotes peace and attention span. The concepts of pursuit and humility inspire me to grow and grow in the right way. Our sponsor couple reminds me of the beauty of a marriage with intention and trust in the way of the Lord.

It's the first category that I feel is a microcosm for my life prior to the beginning of this lent. Noisy. I was filled with unnecessary or artificial input. Walking to class I am always listening to music. At my apartment I'm on my computer, phone, tv, or listening to music while I cook. At night, I sleep to white noise. The space I always felt I could think best was work, church, and the shower. I realized that these places were absent of all this noise. My heart was and is filled with the same noise. It took over my prayer life, focus, and sometimes ability to pay attention in class. While it's impossible to cut out all these things and not all are bad uses. I needed to severely cut back.

The place I want my heart to be was peaceful, intentional, and permitting of growth. Without going into great detail of my fast, I am trying hard to give up or reduce the noise. For example, part of my fast is to give up music on the way to class or in the car. This has already given space for me to pray, notice the people around me, and feel more present.

These first two days of lent have been like planting the seeds or a brew day for me. They are full of hope and ideas of what could be coming. The challenge now is to have patience and trust in what I can't see knowing that prayer created this lent.

OO lengthy one here today I guess, I told you I like writing about Lent. Anyway, I have not forgotten about that voice inside me that says this isn't the time, my heart is being pulled elsewhere. I hear you, but this actually is the time to know and love our Savior. We could and perhaps should seek in Him what we desire from our world. Because, how can we promote peace, if we do not know the Prince and source of peace? If we do not know peace in our own hearts? How can we promote loving our neighbor if we are not rooted in He who opened his arm to everyone? How can we seek to re-grasp life without seeking to grasp a deeper understand of the Author of Life? If any situation or any person causes us to disrupt the peace we have in Christ, to forget the love he bestowed on us, or to turn away from prayer, then we have room to grow this Lent. I hope the world to be more peaceful, more intentional, and more permitting of growth, so that's what I'm seeking in my relationship with the Lord and myself this Lent. If none of this convinces you any further of the opportunity of Lent, then I at least ask you to take the advice of Shaelen and lift your fasting up for Ukraine or a special intention and know the Father is watching.

"But when you fast,

anoint your head and wash your face,

so that you may not appear to be fasting,

except to your Father who is hidden.

And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you."