Apparently, Lent is also recorder season. If you haven't experienced the power of this plastic instrument, you will have the pleasure one day, I'm fairly certain. Elementary teachers have this ear-splitting curriculum built into every school.
So, I'm currently being serenaded with squeaks, blasts, and tweets that roughly sound like the Imperial March from Star Wars. My blood pressure shot through the roof - and will return to normal when my musician grows tired of making "music".
The recorder is a perfect example for me of what reality is present during Lent. - joy in affliction. We love our children - and we'd love them for them to play a tune on that thing and know if will come someday, but in the meantime, it is a act of love not to run for the hills. We know that going through these days of musical torture will yield at least one decent song at the spring music concert and the chance to see your child smile big with accomplishment.
As we journey through Lent and embrace this season, there is a term called "Bright Sadness" that has often been given to this time. It is joy in affliction or difficult feelings - the longing for the fulfillment of our hope. It reminds us of the joy set before Him as He endured the cross. It is the now and not yet.
As parents, we find joy in the seasons that bring challenge or hardship. While some stages can be fun and enjoyable, other stages and times of learning may leave you wondering if you can hold on. But we do - we hold on, anticipating what good thing is yet to come.
If you are up at 2am nursing a baby - it's the now and not yet as you anticipate a full(er) night of sleep. If you are hoping that your child will pick up their clothes and put them in the laundry - it's the now and not yet of learning responsibility. If you are watching the first year of soccer, it's the now and not yet of seeing those kids work as a team and not just move in a giant huddle of shin guards and cleats. And if you seeing your child struggle in any way, it's the now and not yet of moving through this stage and growing into more maturity or proficiency.
The bright sadness we acknowledge in Lent reminds us that we await the fulfillment of our hopes (for our lives, families, community and world), but we are not abandoned in the now. We are beloved. What does this term "bright sadness" stir in you?
Thankfully, the recorder has now been put away until the next practice sesh. This musical hardship is part of the parenting journey and part of the joy.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.