Lent is a period of 40 days during which Christians remember the events leading up to and including the death of Jesus Christ, whose life and teachings are the foundation of Christianity. The 40-day period is called Lent after an old English word meaning 'lengthen'. - bbc.co.uk

I grew up in the Christian faith tradition. This meant attending church on Sundays, observing Easter and Christmas, and practicing faith practices such as praying, reading the Bible, and attending Sunday School.

As I have journeyed through my life, I have found that although my Christian faith remains, how I approach it has shifted.

As a teenager, I began searching for a more authentic ‘less is more’ type of practice, and even still, I find I am more at home in the understated, quiet, and ancient traditions.

During lent, many give up a specific type of food or drink to focus instead on prayers and giving. Instead of these things, I was more attracted to giving up something that had weighed heavily on me for months now.

Social Media.

Don’t get me wrong; I have not given up social media altogether for my work. Still, I have found that putting restrictions on my attendance on social media throughout lent has allowed me a different type of peace in my mind I had not encountered before.

For this period, I have made it a practice that I will go on all social media platforms once a day, and when I leave that platform after posting, viewing, commenting, reading etc. I do not revisit until the following day.

This has given my mind, body and soul a different type of air to breathe. A new way of looking at this season and all aspects of life in general.

Since I am on week five of this, I can honestly also say that once this practice became more regular, I noticed how other distractions fought for that newly found mind, body soul space.

And I am left with:

There will always be a distraction, a pull, a tug, a reason to not dig into prayer, to give of oneself and the practice of grace.

There is always some new event or happening to be outraged about, some recent debate to join, and a new show to watch.

But, when we remind ourselves of this truth during a season like Lent, we are reminded of our humanity. In a way, I believe our follies are not supposed to be about embracing shame but are supposed to remind us to softly chuckle, shake our heads in amusement and say a quiet prayer of gratitude that there is enough grace for this moment this day and this season.

I met Lisa over ten years ago and although she currently lives on the opposite coast from me, this woman has a way of leaving an imprint in the space she holds, & there is a very clear and beautiful imprint of her spirit here on the East Coast.  Lisa speaks of faith and creativity as a soul unit and I am inspired by her ability to share and express honestly in these answers.

1. How would you describe yourself?

I took some intentional time years back to think about how to answer this very question…through the process I came up with this phrase: I love to go deep and give expression to new insights. I am someone who values relationships and enjoys building community. I am a mother and am learning how that impacts what I’ve come to know about myself. Faith in Jesus is central to my life and empowers me to live with hope and love.

2. What role does creativity play in your life?

Creativity takes so many forms but the main outlet for most of my life has been through music. It has been a very honest and intimate place of reflection as I allow my real-life emotions and situations space to flow out and take form in new ways. This is often a process that has brought about healing, hope, encouragement, perspective, faith…it’s like the exhale after a deep breath in. It is relieving and necessary. Creativity is something I need space for…if I don’t have it, I know it. Creativity is where I stop to reflect, feel and think. Even if it comes in little ways, like journaling, decorating a cake, drawing… I feel refreshed seeing and experiencing something that comes from a posture of pausing from the automatics of day to day.

3.  What are you currently working on?

I am one year into motherhood and it has been an incredible joy for me to invest my life in this way. It has also come with many life changes, specifically in energy and time. The ways I had learned to create and process seem less available to me in this season and take more effort to choose when there is space. Creativity is like a muscle…it is natural to use because its intricately part of your body and you can’t ignore it, but if it’s not used often it takes more effort when it is in use. I used to be someone who spent a lot of time in personal reflection and sitting with an instrument. Now I spend time strumming a guitar with little hands holding down frets and strumming along with me. The most recent song I’ve written is about Selah (my daughter) and she seems to know it’s her song by the way she connects with it.

4. What was the last book/movie/podcast etc. that left an impression on you?

This blog is about honesty, right? So the VERY LAST thing I’ve been inspired by was actually a movie I found on Netflix (a night home alone with the babe asleep) called Begin Again. It revolves around a singer songwriter and captured the beauty of creativity in a way that engaged me. I find especially in seasons where I’m not writing but I wish I was, that I am moved by those that are.

5. What advice would you give to other creatively driven people?

My advice from where I currently stand after a season of relatively little time spent on intentional creativity would be to reengage. Don’t wait for time to appear or a season to just open up. Go after it. I need to be mindful of the changes that have happened and the current realities of life so that I maintain an openness to the new season and all it offers instead of just seeing the obstacles. So much is different from what my creative process used to ‘call’ for, but adapting is healthy, especially in this case, because for me to live well is to create.

Once upon a time I believed that in a yard full of three-leaf clovers there would be at least one four leaf clover.  

I believed that I could find it if I just tried.  Despite the lawn mower trimming them all down, despite the surplus of them.  

Once upon a time, I considered that the thousands, if not millions of three-leaf clovers were a blessing.  For the more of them there were, the higher the chances of finding the one four-leaf clover.

I believed.  I trusted an inner knowing.  

It was more of a promise whispered in my heart.  If I looked for it, it would be there.  It might take a long time, but I would go and find it before the lawn mower was done it's job.

I mused aloud.  My mother shook her head.  Attempting at discouraging such a thought.  

"You don't just go and find one.  And they are all three-leaf clover.  You know that."

I knew that, but I also knew something deeper.  

That my faith in that one clover was bigger than a worldly truth.

So I looked.  With the lawn mower gaining ground on it's already cut grass.  I started in the uncut portions.  I sat and looked at each clover one by one.  

I don't know how long I sat there.  I don't remember. 

But I do remember finding my four leaf clover.  The one I knew that was promised to me.  

My sass has never left me and I admit I was proud to prove my mom wrong.  That I found one and I knew it all along. 

She was floored.  She dropped what she was doing and called her mother, she recalled that story many times to anyone who would listen.  She celebrated with me.  Over this promise I found.

And that is the thing with our faith.  It just has to be bigger than what we already know.  

And when God whispers a promise in your ear, you don't gaff at it, you listen.  You let yourself fill up with excitement and you dare to believe that this incredulous faith is all it takes for that promise to be fulfilled.

There are promises that may not be fulfilled in our time, ones that create an ache in our spirits we are not capable of understanding.

What is important, is not that we see every promise / hope that we have fulfilled, but that we live our lives with a faith that is hope filled, joy filled and grace filled.  

This Clover, for me, is a symbol.  That when it comes to the dreams I hold within my heart, all I am being asked of is to have a Faith Like This

My Baptism,  I will never forget this.  Lisa Francis Klassen & Paul Francis 

The first day I attended Gateway Community Church, I was seventeen and raw.  Raw from life, raw from brokenness and abandonment.  I was raw from relationships failing me and raw from disappointment.  The way I saw it, I had two choices.  Loose my faith or seek out a deeper faith. 

It was Palm Sunday.  "This is it God.  I am giving this one more try."  I whispered to myself.  

Paul Francis wasn't the type of pastor you stood in awe of, you stood away from or you had to use the title "Pastor" before his name.  He was a man who had a calling to lead.  He led by humbleness and for someone like me, who felt swallowed up by church 'pomp and circumstance' the simplicity of his delivery was a relief.  I didn't have to be anyone but myself.  He truly reflected the Fathers Love and I soaked in it and so after that first Sunday I kept coming back.

Paul and Kathy came alongside me in the roughest times of my life and even after they moved, I knew that I could struggle, reach, fail, and reach some more and still find the Fathers Love within them.  This is rare.  

This is the Legacy:

We are all human.  We all will fail each other and that is the simplest truth that will either tear you open or heal you.  For me, I have learned that it is the deepest honour to reach towards love and grace for and with each other.  I have failed my mentors and my pastors who taught me to reach for that love first.  I have been hurtful, rash and utterly wrecked with destruction.  
BUT there is a redemption story that Paul taught.   In the darkest of nights of the soul, in the depths of despair and utter confusion God and his Love is there for you.  He is there and his love wants to surround you and make you whole again.  

Paul , Kathy, Lisa & Joel, thank-you for this legacy.

As I let my heart break open for the grief to swell it, I keep hearing these words:

"Let the King of my Heart be
The wind inside my sails
The anchor in the waves.
Oh He is my song.
Let the Kind of my Heart be
The fire inside my veins
And the echo of my days.
Oh He is my song."

- King of My Heart 'John Mark McMillan & Sarah McMillian

Along with the benediction that I heard for most every Sunday when Paul was at church.
 

"Go from here with the assurance of the Fathers love, a love that is made certain and secure now and forever. Go from here empowered by the Holy Spirit into your homes, schools, work places... Go in peace, go in power, but don't go until after this song." - Paul Francis

Right after being baptized they sung over me, they prayed over me and this is the day that marks all the rest of my days.  

Easter Weekend.

For me, Easter is a time to reflect on why Grace and Love is so important.  I take my faith intentionally, and the practice of Communion is more than just drinking a sip of fruit juice or wine and chewing a cracker like its a habit.  The true practice of Communion is the practice of Grace and Love every single day.

We need to be passing Grace like we pass the bread.  Passing Love like we pass the wine.   Because we are always close to either communing with Gods people at the table or critiquing Gods people.  And that critiquing?  That critiquing spills the wine through the cracks of the table, onto the floor where we miss out.  We miss out on passing and receiving and end up getting lost in what could have been a beautiful Grace Communion.

We break the bread and drink the wine because of Love.  Because of Grace.