LEARNING TO WAIT WITH LITTLE CHICK

This is the time, during Mid-Lent, that I always learn about waiting and patience: for the fast to be over.  For our continued contemplation and participation in the mystery of the Cross.  For the hope of the Resurrection on Easter and the Joy that it brings.

Fr. Alexander Schmemann, in his book GREAT LENT, writes in Chapter 4, The Lenten Journey: "We are in Mid-Lent.  On the one hand, the physical and spiritual effort, if it is serious and consistent, begins to be felt...we need help and encouragement.  On the other hand, having endured this fatigue, having climbed the mountain up to this point, we begin to see the end of our pilgrimage, and the rays of Easter grow in their intensity."

I can't pass up this chance to tell you about a sweet children's book that teaches some wonderful lessons about waiting.  It's LITTLE CHICK, written by Amy Hest and illustrated by Anita Jeram.  I think your child will love meeting Little Chick and Old Auntie, the big red hen.  From School Library Journal:

"...three short adventures that brim with childlike concerns and solutions.  Little Chick impatiently waits for her carrot to grow and then finally pulls it, finds a way to make her kite fly, and accepts that she cannot catch her favorite star and put it in her pocket. The protagonist, like many youngsters, wants what she wants immediately, but her understanding and wise Old-Auntie is always there to ease life's disappointments. The text is gentle, affectionate, and child-centered with some lovely turns of phrase and on-target dialogue....Jeram's pencil-and-watercolor illustrations shine. Little Chick is so perfectly childlike—lying on her back holding her toes when she has to wait, leaning on Old-Auntie when things get too hard, or hanging her head dejectedly when her kite won't fly...Old-Auntie is large and comforting." (ages 4-8)