Time Out

Last week was Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Every year I am asked how I explain Lent to younger children. Traditionally Lent was a penitential time for Christians and included prayer, fasting and repentance. Many of the children in chapel can tell me happily what they are "giving up" for Lent, but few can tell me why. So today, in order to try and explain what these 40 days are for, I put a small chair in my box.

As a parent I struggle with discipline as much as anyone. I first try asking offending child to change his our her ways. I then move on to counting, as in, "I'm going to count to three, and then you are going to stop doing whatever you are doing". The big gun is always the time out chair. It typically is reserved when someone can't control his or her actions, and needs a time to calm down and think about the situation. And for my children, being given the opportunity to pause, and breathe, and think about what they have done eventually leads to apology and reconcilliation, as well as at least a brief change in behavior. Today I described Lent to the children, as an opportunity to sit in time out.

We all make bad choices. We all sin. It is simply part of being human. We sin by things we do, and we sin by things we don't do. And our lives are full of meetings, and lunches, and work, and carpool and a million errands that pull us in as many directions. What a gift to be able to have a season where we strip down to the essentials, give up what we don't really need, and take some time out to think about our behavior, apologize, and seek reconcilliation with our loving Father. Lent is a time to breathe, and pray, and prepare our hearts for God.

During the next few weeks, try scheduling a time with no activities. Spend time in Bible reading or prayer with your children. Think about how much God has given you, and how you can spread his love to others. At the beginning of each day and before you go to sleep remind yourself to embrace this time out.