As we continue through the season of Lent, Minor Canon Ian Maher encourages us to declutter our lives and refocus our faith journeys.
Lent often poses the question ‘what are you giving up?’ Christian or not, people around the world sacrifice something during Lent. Whether to connect deeper to God or to lighten the load on our lives.
However, giving something up doesn’t always appeal to us, as now perhaps more than ever, it is easy to become distracted by the countless things that beg for our attention and time. Ian Maher, Minor Canon at the Cathedral, encourages us to use this time as an opportunity to declutter, to pause, to refocus and to reflect on our spiritual life.
In our hectic lives which for many are an endless line of, do this, do that, achieve more, Ian reminds us that to declutter as best we can it might mean ‘do less rather than more, being less driven, and kinder to ourselves.’ And by doing so, we find time to reflect on our own faith journeys ‘by taking a little time out of the day to say our prayers, to read our Bibles, and to simply rest in God’s presence.’
By spending this Lent decluttering our lives and refocusing on what’s important to us Ian continues: ‘Our attention will be drawn to the things that give us life and joy, as well as to aspects of our life that are destructive and where repentance and positive change is needed.’
So, why not use this season of Lent to do some active decluttering and create the space in which to hear about the good things that God longs to give? It would be time well spent.