"For this Lent, I surrender.” •⁠ I’m always unprepared when #Lent arrives. My Lenten commitments are usually toast by the first Friday, and I just end up giving up for Lent.⁠ •⁠ *And that’s exactly what I’m doing for Lent this year: I’m giving up. But I’m giving up trying to do everything right.⁠ •⁠ A wise priest once told me in confession, “You won’t do everything right when you walk out of this confessional. Just pick two things, and then another few, and soon you’re in a better place.”⁠ •⁠ Today, on Ash Wednesday, when I’m reminded of my mortality, I won’t believe the lie that I tell myself: that there is no joy left in this pandemic life. I’ll loudly echo David’s cry for God’s forgiveness after he believed his own lie and scandal, having slept with Bathsheba: “Give me back the joy of your salvation and a willing spirit sustain in me.”⁠ •⁠ I know my greatest lies that I’ve told and believed – and yours, too – are washed away by God’s “gracious and merciful” Truth.⁠ For the next 46 d...