LENT: A time for beautiful change

#WaybackWednesday, #ThrowbackThursday, #FlashbackFriday — these are the hashtags we see in the different social media when we post old photos. It’s amazing how we can look back to the past and see the changes that have happened since.

As I was looking through my high school photos, different emotions were swirling through me. There was happiness, embarrassment, nostalgia, sadness. A lot had changed in my life through the years and what was most striking was the inner change in me that I hadn’t noticed until that particular day.

In this fast-paced life, we tend to forget to pause and look back. We forget to take the little time to examine the person we are or have become. Lent is the perfect time to look into our individual lives.

It is time to remember the people who have marked our hearts, the memories we have collected, the happiness we have experienced, and even the moments when our hearts got broken. These are the things that make us the person we are today.

It is time to ask ourselves how we have been with other people. Have we been the best we could possibly be to them? Have we given a considerable amount of ourselves for them? These are just a few questions we need to ponder on.

Let us look back on the memories that we have gathered all through the years. The wonderful memories that keep our hearts alive. They can inspire us to live everyday with a smile.

Let us rekindle those moments that made us happy in the past. Every moment that made us smile and laugh. Moments that have molded our hearts and minds into the way they are now.

In life, heartbreaks are inevitable. There are times, and quite often, when our hearts just get crushed and devastated. But it doesn’t mean that the experience is not worth looking back to. In fact, doing so can make us become stronger and smarter, and capable of positive change.

Both the good and the bad times we go through contribute to our transformation. They can change our views on life. They can change our ideals and principles.

Lent is the time to recall each one of them, and to be grateful for the necessary change each one has brought to our life. Also, let us remember the people involved in those moments. No matter how little their contribution to the value of our experience.

Even the people who have caused us pain deserve our gratitude. We may have to thank them for breaking our hearts, for improving our endurance to pain so that next time we will no longer be as crushed and devastated.

The most important thing, however, is to look into ourselves – who we were before, who we are today. Have we become the person we dreamed to be? Have we been the person we ought to be?

“It is in giving of one’s self that he becomes whole.” But we can only give what we have. Before we can offer of ourselves to others, we must first have a solid grasp of who we are.

Lent is the best time for a “wayback,” “throwback,” and “flashback.” It is a time for getting one’s self together – to stop regretting, to start forgiving, to move on... smiling. What a time for a beautiful change!