I’m joining today with the Five Minute Friday community of writers who write for 5 minutes about a one-word prompt.

Today’s writing prompt is CARRY.

“What is it God is asking you to give up for Lent?”

It was a Thursday evening and I was watching Polly Payne, founder of Horacio Printing, kick off the 45-day Lent Bible study on Facebook. It was a replay, the original video going live on March 2nd, the first day of Lent. 

Her words surprised me, not because she was asking me to give something up. I’m accustomed to this during the Lenten season, as it’s tradition to give something up for those 45 days leading up to resurrection Sunday. 

Her words surprised me because she wasn’t talking about giving something up as I normally would’ve in past Lenten seasons. She wasn’t asking if it was going to be sweets, Netflix, social media, or bread that we were going to be giving up. 

She was asking a deeper question. 

She wanted to know what God was inviting us to let go of on a soul level this Lenten season. 

It’s the first time anyone has ever asked me that question regarding Lent, spinning it in a way that actually forces me to look inward. 

Polly’s question reminds me of the Lenten invitation that author, Kris Camealy posted on Instagram earlier this week, “The invitation of Lent is to draw near, to repent and rest in God’s presence. To find strength in quietness (stillness) and after the last two years? – Lent is an invitation some of us didn’t know we were waiting for.”

Her words hit me profoundly as I realize Polly’s question is in fact the invitation into Lent I didn’t know I was waiting for. 

To draw near, to ask, to surrender in order to exchange what’s old and dying for what wants to grow and thrive. 

So here I sit on the first Friday morning of the Lenten season, hands outstretched and heart open, asking, seeking, listening for God to reveal what it is He wants me to surrender so I can receive. 

His words come immediately, another surprise, another longing met that I didn’t know I was so heavily waiting for. 

Control. 

I close my eyes, already feeling my whole body resisting the sound of the word bursting forth from my spirit. I see a little girl holding a tiny, play toy.

It’s a steering wheel. 

The Lord gently bends down to meet my eyes, holds out His hand, and gently says, “I have something better.”

I finally look from the floor to His eyes and they’re filled with the kind of kindness I know I can trust. And that’s when it hits me. 

He’s asking me to exchange control for trust; anxiety for peace; discontent for joy. 

But it all starts with this one small step of obedience. 

Surrender the wheel of my life. 

He sees my hesitation but doesn’t move. He’s not surprised as I am to find myself in this place. He smiles with understanding and speaks to my resistance, “Remember my goodness. When you feel that thing rising up in you to take back control, remember that I am good.”

My shoulders relax, the muscles in my face release their tension, my hands lose their grip. 

I take a step toward Him and hand Him the wheel, and I realize we’ve done this dance many times, and we’ll probably do it again and again. 

This is what it means to be human after all, realizing our sin, turning to repentance, and then starting all over again. 

There’s beauty in this process because it’s evidence that I will never not need Him. 

And at that moment I am overcome with gratitude for Abba, my Father, for His good, loving, and faithful heart that never moves in the face of my sin. 

He’s the God that can’t be swayed by my sin because He became sin and then nailed it to the cross to die. 

He’s the Overcomer, the One Who lives in me, and He can be trusted to take the wheel of my life. 

Lent is an invitation to draw near, to repent, and to rest in God’s presence. 

Lent is an invitation to take small steps of obedience, as we lay down all that we carry at the feet of Jesus. 

Lent is an invitation to grow in ways we didn’t know we needed to. 

xo,