Lent kicked off today. In the Christian calendar, it is by far my favourite chapter. It serves as my spiritual bootcamp, of sorts.

As we continue to live at an unrelenting pace, chasing down milestone after milestone, treading water, inundated by distraction after distraction…this time of the year always brings it home to me. What and most importantly, who it’s all about.

I am forced to slow down. To focus. To review my priorities. To breathe. To be.
My limitations are most apparent,
my arrogance the source of great humour &
my understanding of Love is revisted.
I am reminded.
I am humbled
I am renewed.
I am restored.

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my beloved has ninety nine names,
nothing ever more beautiful, more balanced.

the greatest name, the all compassionate, the all merciful, the absolute ruler,
the pure one, the source of peace, the inspirer of faith, the guardian, the
victorious, the compeller, the greatest, the creator, the maker of order, the
shaper of beauty, the forgiving, the subduer, the giver of all, the sustainer,
the opener, the knower of all, the constricter, the reliever, the abaser, the
exalter, the bestower of honor, the humiliator, the hearer of all, the seer of
all, the judge, the just, the subtle one, the all aware, the forebearer, the
magnificent, the forgiver and hider of faults, the rewarder of thankfullness,
the highest, the greatest, the preserver, the nourisher, the accounter, the
mighty, the generous, the watchful one, the responder to prayer, the all
comprehending, the perfectly wise, the loving one, the majestic one, the
resurrector, the witness, the truth, the trustee, the possessor of all strength,
the forceful one, the governor, the praised one , the appraiser, the originator,
the restorer, the giver of life, the taker of life, the ever living one, the
self existing one, the finder, the glorious, the only one, the one, the
satisfier of all needs, the all powerful, the creator of all power, the
expediter, the delayer, the first, the last, the manifest one, the hidden one,
the protecting friend, the supreme one, the doer of good, the guide to
repentance, the avenger, the forgiver, the clement, the owner of all, the lord
of majesty and bounty, the equitable one, the gatherer, the rich one, the
enricher, the preventer of harm, the creator of the harmful, the creator of
good, the light, the guide, the originator, the everlasting one, the inheritor
of all, the righteous teacher, the patient one.

~ W. Shire ~