What if Lent is actually nothing more than an opportunity to start again? To re-receive all that we are and all that we have as gifts? To be reminded that we are dust, and to dust we will return. And with the loosened grip made possible by the fact of our mortality, by the fact that we are not God and don’t have to try to be God – to inquire about what is really necessary. About what is really of worth and value. And then to pare our lives down to the basics, and learn to receive all over again. Learn that everything is gift. Gift upon gift upon gift.