Love and Lent: A Senior Moment by Diane Hendricks (Senior Warden)

My favorite childhood movie is ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and my favorite childhood book is ‘The Velveteen Rabbit.’ Both remind me of Lent and the need to self-reflect, ask for forgiveness, and forgive others.

In his book ‘How to Forgive When You Can’t Forget’ Charles Klein notes, the Wizard told his visitors that hearts will not be practical until they are unbreakable. Likewise after the tin man receives his heart he declares, ‘ I know I have a heart cause it’s breaking.’ As we open our hearts to others we risk our hearts being broken but when love looks forward, we see through our hurt and permit our hurts to mend. We open ourselves anew and reconnect to those people we care about.”

Rabbi Klein acknowledges the author of Proverbs who offers similar advice when he taught, “Hatred stirs up strife - but love covers all transgressions.” While we cannot forget the transgression, this teaching suggests that love should enable us to put our hurts and disappointments into perspective. When the people in our lives hurt or disappoint us, it is the love that we remember which removes some of the sting from our wounds.

My job as a therapist is to listen and respond to the wounds of others and to facilitate healing, often by processing the hurt, and then deciding how to respond to it. Listening is the easy part. Not so easy is to navigate forgiveness and the letting go of the anger, the pain. Honoring the relationships for the love they have offered despite the hurt they have caused is often difficult. As Lent comes to a close and we look forward to Easter I strive to be forgiven, to forgive others and remind myself that it is a beautiful world, a beautiful church, a beautiful time of year and there is much to love and look forward to.