Lent. Quiet.

in , by sarahmfry, March 14, 2011
I appreciated so much our pastor's sermon (3/13/11 am) on Lent.  I am thankful that our churches seem to be returning to the richness of the church calendar and the focus it brings to our every day living throughout the year.

I have been thinking about how Lent leads so naturally and powerfully to the crescendo of Easter.

We begin the Lenten season on Ash Wednesday by acknowledging and remembering that we are dust.  We slow.  We search.  We purposefully focus our hearts for 40 days.


Then we remember and honor his death in the Passover meal.  Our hearts are more full of gratefulness for His unspeakable sacrifice and mercy because we have been focused, and made so painfully aware of our need.


And then on Resurrection day, our hearts burst with rest and relief and overwhelming joy that He has conquered our sin!  He has paid our price! He has freed us from the chains of striving to be good enough on our own.  His beauty, His power, His freedom.  Ours to share as His Own! It should make us sing and dance and laugh.




My heart is open.  I am wanting to really soak it in this year.


I wish that I would have done something symbolic for myself, personally, on Ash Wednesday.  I feel like digging my hands in dirt to be reminded of whence I came.  There's something powerful about visuals and hands-on-experiences.  Helps my kid heart to focus.

 And then my mind goes to the picture of the flower pot dirt cakes we have used in our family Passover celebration.


And the picture of a happy flower growing from that dirt...and isn't that just what he does with us?  He takes regular old dust and holds it in His Abba hands and molds it and shapes it (and sometimes breaks it) and waters it and grows Himself in us.  Oh, I want that. So very much. 



I have enjoyed reading some of the thoughts of others about Lent....

Here are a couple of thoughtful links from Ann Kroeker:

Undivided Attention

My First Ash Wednesday




 I do love this time leading up to and including the biggest celebration of all....And my spirit is hungry for this season of searching. I need to quiet. My heart, my mind.  They need quiet.


I will close with a quote and a link to one resource we are enjoying together as a family:


It is the hour to rend thy chains,
The blossom time of souls.  

~Katherine Lee Bates
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