What Lent Has to Do With Pregnancy

With my first child, I got to experience Advent in a deeper way as I anticipated the birth of my baby in the months leading up to Christmas. With this second child, I am experiencing Lent on a new level as I journey with Christ toward the crucifixion and Easter.

Traditionally, Lent (the 40 days leading up to Easter, not including Sundays) is about repentance, the stripping away of all the things that hinder our growth toward Christ. It carries a somber, gloomy tone and invites us to deep soul-...