Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Religious Art
Milestones: Significance of Birthdays, New Year’s, and Lent

Milestones: Significance of Birthdays, New Year’s, and Lent

Last updated on: February 12, 2026 at 5:40 am by Andrew Laflamme

0 Comments

Milestones: Significance of Birthdays, New Year’s, and Lent 2026-02-12T05:37:10-06:00 Andrew Laflamme

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Milestones (Photo by A. Laflamme, Mt. Washington 2014)

I wonder if the time of year that birthdays or other milestones fall is significant. How does that affect people?

My birthday just passed and it is often just before Ash Wednesday (one year it landed on the day of and that made for an odd birthday where I mostly celebrated the night before).

Milestones as New Years

In recent years, I find that my birthday is another milestone in the chain of reminders to continue reflecting on who I want to be this year.

Advent

It starts with Advent, my first cue that a new year is beginning with the liturgical year. This is a time of preparation and reflecting. This year was great for me, as I did a little fasting from games and media. That extra free time meant every time I was on my phone or with down time, I was either reading Luke or writing about it. This was great, though I couldn’t keep it up forever.

Christmas broke that penitential and reflective period with a time of celebration and cheer lasting into the new year.

New Year’s Day

New Year’s Day didn’t really break the celebration at all but it does kick the mind back to reflection mode for a bit.

“What do I want for 2026?”

Unlike last year, I didn’t really set any clear resolutions, and I feel alright about that. I think I just want the year to keep building on what our family is trying to do. Get more solidly settled in to home, routines, and life.

Birthday

Now, I’ve had a month into the year to feel things out and I hit the milestone of February, birthday month.

There are certain ages that cause more reflection than others. Thirty-two didn’t seem like one to me at first, until I figured that Jesus would have been in his final year or so of ministry/mission. That seems significant.

It makes you ask, “How would I live if I knew I had one more year?”

Then I realized that my parents were about my age when I was born, and that gets me thinking about my kids and my parents and my significance between them, my place as son and father. That feels significant too.

Ash Wednesday and Lent

Next up, I will break the reflection milestone for a day with Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) as I head into Ash Wednesday and Lent. This will be the last major reflection milestone for me until the summer when I start up my renewal of Marian consecration between July and August ending on the Assumption.

I have some ideas about what I’d like to do this lent.

Writing

Surely, my lack of writing here has been due to no longer fasting from the chess app, other games, news, or media. I should do some of that even if just on certain days.

In Advent, I didn’t expect to write as much as I did. I was so close to completing reflections on every chapter of Luke. I was drafting Luke 22 when the Christmas celebrations began. So I would like to finish the last few chapters during lent.

Fasting

A few months ago, I read some good info about the physical benefits of fasting in addition to the spiritual benefits.

I don’t think I have ever been great about fasting, and it is sad to say I couldn’t do it for purely spiritual realities. Yet, awareness of what benefits my body was actually having in restoring itself during a time of rest from digestion of glucose et all, really helped me push through a day of fasting.

A friend of mine is in on this too, which double helps with motivation when you know someone else is feeling the same way. So I hope to do some of that this year too.

Wrapping Up the Milestones

So as I hike by these milestones on the trail of life, I reflect on how it’s been going since the last one and how I want to prepare for the next season ahead.

I realize that I kind of like having a birthday between New Year’s and Lent. I’m not sure it has affected me so much over the last 30 plus years, but I’m sure it will now.

Contemplative

Recreation, Outdoors and Religion