It’s been a struggle to write this blog, this Lent, this #lentowrimo. Last Lent the pandemic had only just started, lockdown was looming, and then began. There were things to speculate about – what was going to happen, how the world was going to cope. There were new things to negotiate – social distancing, online church, finding a source of flour, developing a sourdough starter, advanced baking, homeschool protocols.
This Lent, it’s all old and wearying. We’ve had more than enough of homeschool. We’re fed up of not hugging people. I’ve not made sourdough for months, despite having enormous bags of flour stashed away. It’s been winter for months and months, and I still have toothache.
I had things to talk about last year. But I’m struggling this time around. Life is mostly all old hat.
The more interesting things I’m doing are non-bloggable, as often seems to happen in life. I don’t write about everything, you’ll be shocked and amazed to hear (not). One of the dangers of our online lives is the way we curate them. We only tell part of the story – to protect ourselves or to shield others, to present ourselves as we want to be seen. But as we’ve lived so much more of our lives online of late, I’ve seen more of that part telling going on. I’ve done it myself. I’m more than the sum of my blogging and my Twitter feed. I am truthful online. But I don’t tell everyone everything. It’s only a glimpse of Vicarage life. So there are other stories here, but I’m sorry to say that they are staying here.
So tonight’s post is just me saying nothing much, because there’s nothing much that I can say from my small quiet life online and in the Vicarage. Thank you for listening in to me saying almost nothing though. Maybe I’ll find something a bit new hat tomorrow.
The Vicar's Wife 
It’s always good to hear from you, old hat or new!
Talking about your’small quiet life ‘ in the vicarage makes you sound like someone out of Jane Austen…….
Wish I was in Jane Austen! Life was a lot less complicated. Been reading her novels a lot recently. Very calming.
Hello – I have been following your blog for some years but I can’t remember how I found it. Perhaps a comment on another blog or one of those moments of leaping from one link to another.
I am intrigued to know why you write a blog for Lent. Do you wish to have a regular record of this short period of the year? Or it is a self imposed discipline? Of course it is none of my business but you have no need to reply but in my defence I wrote a blog for many years and valued the self discipline and, retrospectively, the record. However one day I decided that it wasn’t doing what I needed it to do and had become a burden and I stopped blogging, giving myself an opportunity to explore other ways to record and reflect. I can recommend it!
Hiya! I wrote one for Lent last year as a couple of friends were also doing writing projects at the same time. I wish I could discipline myself to write more all year round! So this at least is a point in the year when I definitely put words down. Maybe I’ll manage something more after Easter this year? Especially as the pesky tooth is now removed!
I am still comforted by your 22 February 2021 — …
But that has also given me a bigger vision of the greatness of the LORD, who sees everything from the beginning to the end, who has all the information, in all its complexity. He is never overwhelmed, he grasps all the politics, the relationships and the history. Praise God for his understanding of all that he has made.
The Lord looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
PSALM 33:13-15