You Cannot “Fail” Lent: Making Lent a Time of Formation Not Evaluation, by Paige Espitia

I have to remind myself of that every single year.

As Lent progresses, I catch myself doing something a little silly: I start “grading” my heart. I slip right back into teacher mode with an imaginary rubric, a mental checklist, the whole thing. I begin evaluating how “prepared” or “holy” I feel, usually landing somewhere in between needs improvement and extra credit required.

But God isn’t standing over us with a clipboard. He isn’t tallying our spiritual slip-ups or tracking perfect attendance in prayer. He isn’t looking for performance. He’s inviting us into relationship. He doesn’t want something from you this Lent; He has something for you.

As a teacher, it’s natural that I think in grades and progress reports. I love seeing my students grow, so improvement is always on my mind. But I know that a grade never tells the whole story. A grade can’t measure joy, resilience, compassion, or the quiet victories no one sees. And the same holds true for us adults (even the ones of us still pretending we have adulthood figured out). The whole person matters: body, mind, and soul. …