Lent is usually filled with new paths if we are taking Lent seriously.  But the new paths we are on these days are not the challenging kind – they are the expanding and exploring kind.  We set off for a couple of days of exploration into South Carolina and places we had never seen before.

We drove all day Saturday through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and a blinding snow until we reached the coast of South Carolina at Charleston.  Sunday and Monday we explored the historical sites in and around Charleston – Ft. Moultrie, Ft. Sumter, and the USS Yorktown among others.

All of our explorations brought with them a profound gratitude for the sacrifices our ancestors made to establish, protect, and defend our country through the generations – from the Revolutionary War to WWII.  So, I offered a prayer of thanks and resolved to be more aware of the sacrifices that others make on my behalf.  And, those sacrifices don’t have to be as monumental as going off to war, they can be as simple as the mere consideration someone affords me as I’m trying to find my way in a strange place.

Becoming more aware and recognizing with gratitude the grace of other’s actions has filled these Lenten days of exploration.