A Season of Lint: What's Clogging the Vents
February 25, 2026
Not long ago, we bought new towels. The thick, fluffy kind that feel like a small upgrade in life. I washed them before using them, of course, and when I opened the dryer afterward, the lint trap was packed!
I cleaned it out, ran the towels through the wash again, and still — even more lint! Crazy clouds of feathery fuzz filled the trap each time, but that wasn’t a defect in the towels. It was part of becoming usable.
Some seasons of life are like new towels: they shed more.
Whether it’s a new job or new relationship, a new baby and new responsibility, or a new diagnosis or a new loss — transitions tend to throw off lint.
And here we are in Lent — a season that doesn’t rush in with solutions, but asks us to pay attention. Lent takes the familiar and makes it strange.
Lent asks us to notice
What’s falling away naturally?
What are we deliberately giving up for a time?
What are we casting aside forever?
When Lent enters our lives each winter — we are invited into deeper reflection.
What’s Clogging the Vents?
A dryer clogged with lint doesn’t stop working immediately. It just runs hotter with less efficiency and more strain. Lent has us pull out our emotional lint filters out and hold them up to the light.
When we move through heavy seasons — especially new ones — the shedding increases. If we don’t pause to clear what’s falling away, it gathers.
Lent gives us space — forty days of intentional noticing — to prevent spiritual overheating.
Lent follows the same basic process as clearing a lint filter: pull it out, peel back the fibers, toss them aside, and slide it back in.
Lent acts as a season of maintenance. A defined stretch of weeks when we, just like the Psalmist, can intentionally pray “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”
A Question and an Invitation
A Question: Are you in a “new towels” season right now? Are you shedding more than usual? And if so, exactly what has this season shaken loose in you?
An Invitation: Instead of criticizing yourself for the extra lint, what if you simply ask for help creating a clean heart?
When new towels throw off lint, they aren’t falling apart — they’re settling in. And as we move through Lent with honesty and intention, we aren’t necessarily breaking down — we may simply be becoming.
With you in the clearing,
Next week: Sometimes what’s hiding in the corners matters more than what we see every day.
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