Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. I heard a few years ago — and have since confirmed — that the word “lent” comes from the old English for “lengthen.” Lent happens in spring when days grow longer and light grows stronger, when we leave winter darkness behind. In this way, then, Lent is more hopeful than often portrayed. It is about moving ahead not just leaving behind.

I am never ready for the penitential parts of this season, for Lent’s fasting and denials. I usually give up chocolate, which isn’t easy but seems increasingly beside the point. Surely more is asked of us. So I seek an ally in etymology. When I think of Lent as Lengthen I concentrate on spiritual stretching, on growth.

I imagine the trees about to leaf, the seeds about to sprout, the grass about to green. All around me is the restraint of nature, a restraint that makes profusion possible.