Lent
It has been several years since I have practiced Lent. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, repentance and self-denial for the culmination of the Holy Week, that being the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. While I have to admit I am not one for Christian traditions that often lead to a spiritless and empty routine that lacks the true significance of the intent. I have felt a drawing of my life to truly Seek God with all of my heart, mind, soul, and strength allowing Jesus to lead where ever he desires. This is a season of complete abandonment of self to truly leave all and follow him. Lent provides us with the opportunity to bring our prayers of lament and brokeness before God. There is only so long we can go one pretending everything is ok. In truth there is a lot of healing that takes place when we can finally expose the rawness of our hearts to allow God to heal the deepest wounds. This is, of course, countercultural to us; as a culture we try hard to avoid death, grief, and pain. So in our churches we don’t regularly enter into the kinds of faith practices that help us live with and through our pain. Lament opens the possibility for us to face the doubts and questions we have and then turn them toward an all loving and sovereign God who has shoulders much larger than ours that can handle them. I have been moved by a very simple passage the last few months. Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” I believe that if we were honest with ourselves we would recognize much in our hearts that truly do not want to seek and find God. We are content only allowing him to have parts of our hearts that are tidy and clean. But what if? What if we truly searched God with all of our hearts, undivided, honestly, humbly, what could we be missing!! Lent for me is an all in search for God, and a reminder of the words of Jesus, ” If you want to save your life, you must lose it, for whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
