Lent is upon us. At this time in the liturgical year, we are called to pause and take stock of our lives, to reflect on our relationships with God and one another, and how these might need attention, repair, and refreshment. The Church offers us forty days to prepare ourselves for resurrection, for new life with the Divine. How we choose to use the time is up to each of us. Some folks will ignore the season of Lent all together; the call to pay attention just doesn’t reach their hearts. Those of us who recognize that all is not well within, however, likely will take advantage of the gift of Lent and look for something that we hope will stir our hearts to repentance and bring us back to the fold of Love. Some of us will choose self-examination and confession as our Lenten discipline, others some form of self-denial, others spiritual reading and meditation, and some perhaps all of the above. What we do doesn’t matter so long as it enables us to turn away from our self-centered pursuits and return to The Beloved, choosing to walk in God’s holy, loving, self-giving ways.

When, in my spiritual reading, I came across the sentence: “The work of love is attention,” I immediately knew the truth of that statement in every fiber of my being. Does it resonate with you? Just think about it; how do we show our love for others? By paying attention to them, by being mindful of and responsive to their needs, whatever they might be. That is not always easy or convenient or pleasant, but it is important for our spiritual growth. Lent is a good time to check how well we really do attend to others and to notice where and how often we allow our own personal interests and concerns to take precedence—bearing in mind, that it is always appropriate to tend to our own needs and to honor our personal boundaries. And how do we work out our love for God? By giving the Holy One the first fruits of our attention, by responding attentively to God’s love in all the ways we have found to be fruitful in deepening our personal relationship with the Beloved, by using God’s gifts obediently, diligently, and attentively as we are led, and by loving attentively those whom God sends into our lives. Can there be any doubt that attention is the work of Love?

I am choosing attention as the focus of my Lenten discipline, hoping that, by the end of six weeks, it will be so ingrained in me that the attention of love will be more joy and less work. What about you?