This is so worth 11 minutes of your time. Denzel Washington gives a commencement address that doubles as spiritual direction. “Put God first,” he told the graduates, and then went on to remind them to “fail big,” serve others, and get down on their knees every morning to thank God in advance for what is already theirs. Powerful talk. Check it out.

As we begin the first full week of Lent, I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about this 40-day journey and how we might best approach the challenge. Join ...