Each year, Lent arrives and I meet it with a curious mix of longing and resistance.
This season matters. It carries great depth, gravity, invitation. And yet, Lent has become tangled up with ideas of striving, giving things up “properly,” or doing it right , as though the forty days were a spiritual endurance test, rather than a companioned journey.
But historically, Lent was never meant to be a productivity challenge.
Instead, it was a preparation for love.
A Brief History of Lent (and Why it is Important Still)
The roots of Lent stretch back to the earliest centuries of the Church. Long before devotional booklets and daily email prompts, Lent emerged as a season of intentional preparation , particularly for those preparing for baptism at Easter.
The forty days echoed biblical patterns that we recognise, such as Christ’s forty days in the wilderness, Moses’ forty days on Sinai, and Israel’s forty years of wandering.
In Scripture, forty is never about efficiency, or a job well done, but testing, preparation, formation.
Lent was a time when the whole Christian community slowed its pace to walk alongside those preparing for baptism, praying, fasting, and attending more carefully to their lives. Over time, this widened into a season for everyone: a shared turning of the heart, a re-orientation of attention.
When Lent Becomes Too Loud
Somehow, somewhere along the way, Lent picked up noise.
Rules. Targets. Pressure. The quiet assumption that if we are not doing enough, we are missing the point. For those of us already weary, mothers, carers, those navigating illness, grief, or overload, this can make Lent feel like one more thing we are failing at.
And yet, the older rhythm of Lent hints at something quite different.
It says: Come and walk. Not stride out, or perform. Just walk.
Lent as Pilgrimage, Not Performance
A pilgrimage is not about arriving quickly. It is about allowing the journey to shape you.
Historically, pilgrimage and Lent were deeply connected. Both asked for attentiveness, faithfulness, and willingness rather than achievement and certainty. A pilgrim does not conquer her path, she walks it. She notices the weather, her fatigue, the beauty that does indeed surround her, her own resistance, and the companionship by her side.
This is the spirit behind The Pilgrimage Journal: A Companion for the Sacred Path of Lent
I wrote this not as a daily task-list, but as a seasonal companion , something you will want to return to, gently, honestly, in the midst of you own, very real life.
Nature and Lent
For much of Christian history, Lent unfolded alongside the land.
In the Northern Hemisphere, Lent sits at the threshold between winter and spring, a time when life is stirring but not yet visible. Seeds are hidden. Buds are tentative. Growth is slow and quite easily missed.
Nature understands Lent instinctively. Nothing is forced or rushed. Transformation is taking place beneath the surface.
The Pilgrimage Journal weaves this natural wisdom into the Lenten journey, inviting you to notice what is lying dormant, what is being asked to rest, and what is quietly preparing to rise, not as metaphor alone, but as a lived, and embodied prayer.
Lent is not about keeping up, it is about staying close.
The Pilgrimage Journal is offered as a companion for that walk, and if you are looking for a way to enter Lent that honours both your faith and your humanity, you can find the journal in the shop now, available at the sale price until Sunday.
From my home to yours,
