Take a moment to settle in.
Allow your breathing to slow.
Become aware of God’s presence here with you.

Often, when Lent comes around, we find ourselves asking a familiar question:
“What are you giving up?”

And while that question isn’t wrong, it can sometimes pull our attention toward the surface of the season rather than its heart.

Lent was never meant to be simply about willpower, or endurance, or surviving forty days without something we enjoy.
It is not a spiritual challenge to be completed.
It is a relationship to be renewed.

Through the prophet Joel, God speaks gently and clearly:
“Return to me with your whole heart.”

Not part of your heart.
Not the polished or presentable pieces.
But your whole heart—
the weary parts,
the distracted parts,
the hopeful and the fearful parts too.

Lent invites us to ask a deeper question than what am I giving up?
It asks us instead:
What is keeping me from God?
And just as importantly:
What might help me draw closer?

For some, that may mean letting go of a habit, a comfort, or a distraction that quietly takes up too much space.
For others, it may mean taking something on—
more prayer,
more silence,
more attentiveness to the needs of others,
or simply more honesty with God.

Whatever we choose, the purpose is the same:
to make room.

These forty days are not about loss for the sake of loss.
They are about clearing a path.
They are about creating space in our hearts where God can meet us anew.

Lent is a pilgrimage of the heart—
a slow, intentional journey back toward the One who never stopped loving us,
never stopped waiting,
never stopped calling us home.

So as you walk this Lenten season, hear God’s words spoken not as a command, but as an invitation:
Return to me with your whole heart.

And trust that wherever you begin,
however imperfect the journey feels,
God walks every step of it with you.