5 Quick Things #357

embodied storytelling, decluttering playlists, hopeful genZ-ers, and Ash Wednesday

Hey there,

Alrighty… Lent begins this next Wednesday. The past few years I’ve said “Already?” about its onset, but this year it’s “Finally!” because it’s about as late as it can get according to the lunar science configuration what-not that They’ve calculated for the date of Easter in the liturgical calendar each year. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’d give you a brief 101 of how I approach this season¹ — so here you go, in digestible morsels:

• I attend an Ash Wednesday service to receive the distribution of ashes. This is not obligatory, nor is it essential that it be a full Mass (though hey, that’s nice). But there’s something about the physical smudge of ashes on my forehead that captures the embodied, sacramental nature of this new season: to dust we came, and to dust we shall return. We are corporeal. Plus, it’s a day of fasting. (Fun fact: the ashes are made from the burning of last year’s palms from Palm Sunday.)

• I prayerfully choose something to fast from for the season. I get into much more detail in Bitter & Sweet regarding both how to choose and various creative fasting options (it doesn’t have to be food). In short, though, I choose the thing that best addresses my most current pressing attachment. A hint? If it’s a thing to which I react, “Oof, not that,” then it’s often a sign that’s the thing I need to fast from. (Note: Sundays throughout Lent are “mini-Easters,” so we can refrain from this fast on those days.)

• I also choose an additional penitential fast for each Friday in Lent. Traditionally, this is meat (hence the fish tradition).

• I also add in something that corresponds to my fast. For example, a few years ago I fasted from sugar, so I started our backyard vegetable garden at the same time. In years when I’ve practiced a ‘no-buy’ Lent, I add in regular decluttering and organizing throughout the house. Fasting can look like both giving something up and adding something in.

• There’s actually a trifecta of participation for Lent: fasting, yes, but also prayer and giving. I continue to prioritize my morning prayer time, and Kyle and I pray and look for ways to give here and there over the weeks.

• I read Bitter & Sweet. Really! I know it sounds weird to read my own book, but like my Advent book, I wrote this because I couldn’t find the thing I wish existed. It walks through the traditional seven vices — and their corresponding virtues — using the Psalms as a guide, from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday.

Remember: these practices aren’t to earn your worth or God’s love — the seasons of the liturgical calendar are a gift to us as people. We’re invited to partake of the rhythms of fasting and feasting because it’s good for us, not because we needlessly flagellate ourselves for no reason. We are body-soul composites, and it’s good and necessary to remember this often.² And it’s good to remember that the second person of the Trinity took on this same mortal flesh, and did so for our sake.

I’ll talk about Lent more in the coming weeks, but I wanted to at least give you my basic 101 of starting this season… Don’t feel overwhelmed, and don’t feel like you have to do everything (especially if this is new to you). Pray about it, and simply follow what you sense God telling you.

Onward!

Early Spring, by Isaac Levitan (1899) #

---

5 Quick Things ☕️

1. New episode of A Drink With a Friend! I talk with musician and writer Andrew Peterson about his approach to storytelling, the sacramental nature of his sort of work, why embodiment matters, and what he’s learned in the decades of wearing the many hats he wears. (Plus, he shares when we can expect the next season of Wingfeather!)

2. I spent some time this week curating and decluttering my Spotify playlists. Did I have a lot of school prep and teaching to do? Yes. Do I have a book proposal due? Also yes. But somehow I find myself compelled to do tasks like this. …This really is a focused season of decluttering for me, and that includes both my physical and digital spaces. My playlists still aren’t perfect, but they’re better, and I can find them easier. (Silly, I know. But I truly do feel better.)

3. This was written last summer, but it’s worth a reread (or if you missed it the first time around). Are we ending our ‘extremely online’ era? In some ways, I think yes — it’s now mainstream to understand the dangers of too much screen time, and I think most of us feel the incongruence in our bones when we infinitely scroll while everything in our bodies screams at us to go dig in the dirt. Perhaps this is a good nudge for you, if you might be called to fast from screens in some form this Lent: “I think the era of orbiting our daily existence around a device in our hands will be just that: an era. And it will go the way of smoking and top hats with monocles and communism. Once powerful and pervasive, impossible to imagine disappearing. Now, mostly dead. Receded into a mere memory.”

4. I’ve actually been encouraged when I talk about this stuff to my upperclassmen students. In the past few years, the topic of screen addiction has shifted from a ‘shrugged shoulders, what are you gonna do’ posture to ‘nope, we’re not having it; we’ve seen what it’s done to others,’ and they really mean it. Sure, there’s still smartphones everywhere, but many older adolescents I talk to seem to really, truly know how unhealthy they are, and are willing to do what it takes to not become an addicted adult. They’re shifting to flip phones, leaving phones at home more and more, and getting together in real life for actual conversations. …Maybe this is just the type of adolescent I tend to interact with, and perhaps they’re still in the minority — but still, these young adults give me hope.

5. And finally, Fr. Gregory Pine is one of my favorite teachers, and boy howdy is this an excellent talk he gave over the holiday season.

---

Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📻

My Kinda Dance-y, Sometimes Shout-y playlist (don’t overthink the lyrics, just enjoy the music)

---

---

Quotable 💬

“The purpose of Lent is not to force on us a few formal obligations, but to soften our heart so that it may open itself to the realities of the spirit, to experience the hidden thirst for communion with God.”

― St. John Paul II

---

You're stranded on a desert island with ONE other person. Would you rather it be... 🏝️

Yeah, it was my 14-year-old son who contributed this question — but technically, it was his biology teacher, who starts every class with a ‘would you rather’ question, and apparently this was one of them recently.

For what it’s worth, I’m Team Vet here, too.

• A vet with 15 years of working experience: 64.3%

• A doctor with one year of working experience: 35.7%

Find next week’s poll here.

---

Lent Begins in 5 Days 🍋

As I mentioned above, I genuinely read my own book during Lent. If you’d like a guide for the season, consider Bitter & Sweet.

It walks you through the six weeks to Easter with the Psalms, and also unpacks the history, traditional practices, and simple ways to to practice the season in your home — helpful for both total newbies who never grew up with Lent as a tradition and for seasoned pros who’d appreciate a quick refresher.

Each day’s reading is mercifully short, serving as a kind companion for you to reflect on your own or with your family, and includes music and art as well.

Order it now so you’re ready this Wednesday:

---

This Summer’s Pilgrimage ⛰️

I’d love you to join us on our boat this summer — be part of our pilgrimage down the Rhine River!

---

Quick Links 🔗

• 📐Create your own Rule of Life

• 🎧 Listen to A Drink With a Friend

• 📖 Read my books

• 🛶 Join me along the Rhine River: Summer 2025!

---

---

Question(s) For You to Ponder… 🤔

What’s a topic you could give a fifteen-minute presentation on with no preparation?

---

Have a great weekend,

- Tsh

p.s. - This is like a human toddler.

1. I’ll get into how I end the season with Holy Week when it’s closer to time.

2. Note: There are also certain seasons in life when it’s good to give ourselves lots of grace with Lent — such as pregnancy and having teeny-tinies — so prayerfully consider your current situation.