I love hearing from people that Lent is their favorite season of the Church Calendar. Why's that? I'm glad you asked. WelI, I love hearing it because it says to me that there are many who appreciate the opportunity for reflection and instituting discipline into their spiritual lives. There's a desire to experience God in new and more meaningful ways on a regular basis. Lent inserting its way into our lives each year is a reminder to stop and reflect on our flawed humanity, our idolatry of our favorite things, and our desperate need of a savior. It's a reminder to stop and reflect on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It's a reminder to stop and reflect on the fact that even in the midst of the misery of the cross, resurrection comes.
However, I wonder why we only incorporate these practices during the 7 weeks of the season? I like to think that the 40 days of Lent are a spiritual awakening for us. We start off by recognizing our need for more prayer, study, service, or space for God that we make by fasting or cutting something out. So why do we sell ourselves short and go back to all our bad habits at Easter only to feel the same way a year later? These Lenten disciplines aren't just a 40 day challenge that we can be proud of once we've completed it - although it would make a great reality series. No, these disciplines are meant to transform us, to cause us to reflect on who we are as children of God so that on that Easter morning we rise anew, changed by a deepened relationship with the One who made us, redeemed us, and guides us....
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