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Second Sunday of Lent, March 4, 2018, by Fr. Kevin Anderson

OK, I have a full-proof way of making your Lent better . . . I takes only three minutes. You can do it every day. It is something that effects each and every one of us. Here it is . . . each morning, after you get up . . . make your bed.   That’s it. It’s simple. It is guaranteed to improve your life.

 

Some of you are already seasoned bed makers, so you get. Some of you let the sheets air out a bit first, and you get it too. But for those who are chronic non-bed makers . . . this is your chance.

 

Gretchen Rubin, in her best-selling book The Happiness Project, writes that the three-minute task of making one's bed every morning is a keystone habit: a routine that becomes a catalyst for creative and positive change.

 

For a made up bed, just might inspire you to clean up some other areas around the house.

An unmade bed can set a tone . . . that sloopy and clutter is OK. So you whole day might be sloppy and cluttered. With your made-up bed, at least you have a chance.

 

In the gospel, Jesus does a little “cleaning up” himself. This is actually a turning point in his life, for it leads to something bigger. He does what he has to do, that is, cast out the moneylenders and merchants who have made the temple into marketplace.   He cleans up all the things that are distracting people from praying in the temple.

 

The word Lent comes from the old English word for spring. So we sort of go through a “spring cleaning” during these 40 days. That is, to throw out the attitudes and distractions that keep us focused on how (and who) God wants us to be.

 

I know that I can “think better” and can “find my way better” when I am not surrounded by clutter or a mess. It’s a simple as not leaving dishes in the sink to not using my car as a wastebasket.

 

Getting things cleaned up, allows more room to get our lives cleaned up . . . that is, to drive out whatever distracts us from the things and values of God. With a restored sense of perspective hopefully we can realize make more room for God.

 

Making your bed isn’t magical . . . but it can be a start to how your day will turn out.

As one woman said in Zen-like terms: The state of your bed is the state of your head.  

 

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