Today is the first day of Lent for those from a Christian background. It is a forty day period to enter one’s personal wilderness for reflection. I have used this time as a crutch to ease me into change. In my 20’s I gave up smoking during Lent and a few years ago moved from meat-eating to a plant based diet. For me Lent arrives at a useful time with the worst of winter past and spring still to come. It is a balanced on the edge time reminding us of the brevity and preciousness of our lives and our responsibility to use them well. Regardless of our religion or nonreligion, we are one in the urgency of climate change. Perhaps we could use this age-old disciplined time to enrich our lives for the well-being of the Earth. Form a climate crisis reading and discussion group? Get involved politically?  Buy a bike and use it! Write letters to those in power, expressing our concerns? Put up a clothesline? Adopt a couple of chickens? The possibilities are numerous!

I end with a short Indigenous story, entitled Two Wolves, on Story Soup Enterprise’s podcast.