The Stomach Flu That Prepared Me for Lent
Ash Wednesday Reflections
We were in a bad place.
Or let me rephrase that: as Mama, I’m the heart of the home — and the heart was sick.
I was praying for help, and as usual, God sent help in an unexpected way: the stomach flu.
It was a hard reset.
What was beautiful, though, was the timing. Since there are eight of us, these bugs usually move slowly through the whole household. This one arrived the week leading up to Lent, finally ending on Ash Wednesday.
Nothing like a night of brutal vomiting to remind you that you are dust, and to dust you will return.
For the first time ever, my husband and I were both sick at the same time. The big kids had to step up in a major way.
At the end of it all, my oldest daughter said,
“Now I know why you’re so tired and why you need rest time every day. That was really hard. You’re such a good mom.”
And for me, it became an unexpected chance to reset my relationships with the kids. I had slipped into a negative cycle of yelling and grumpiness.
But sickness wiped the slate clean. There was no yelling — only affection and care. After all, you’re not going to yell at a child who just spent the night vomiting.
As our bodies recovered, our hearts did too. Our home feels calmer now; more affectionate and we are gentler with one another.
And what a fitting moment for that reset to be realized: Ash Wednesday.
With all the chaos of the week, I barely had time to think about what Lent would look like this year. But then I realized something: Like a good Father, God had been preparing my heart all week.
He resent me by pulling me out of the weeds and placing me back on the path.
And now that I’ve been reminded of the mother I want to be — and, by grace, the mother my children now expect to see when I walk into the room — I can see clearly what I need to do this Lent:
Give up complaining & yelling
Pray the rosary every day
Aim for 5 minutes a day of one-on-one time with each individual child (fully present, not distracted)
Sometimes the reset we need arrives disguised as interruption, and God prepares our hearts for Lent not through silence and planning, but through weakness, dependence, and the chance to begin again.
Pax, Mama 🤍
