Below is a devotion that was shared at our February Council Meeting at Hope two days before Ash Wednesday by one of our lay leaders, drawn from a few sources. We pray it is a blessing for you!
Lent, the forty days in the Christian year that lead up to Easter, is a valuable time for Christians. The word “Lent” comes from a variety of Anglo-Saxon and Germanic words meaning “spring,” a time budding with new life and hope. For Christians, Lent is not a celebration of nature; rather, it is a process of prayer and spiritual renewal looking to a time budding with new spiritual life and hope. The Lenten season is an opportunity to cultivate the interior life through spiritual exercises and practices.
Rather than being seen as a forty-day endurance test, or a bleak and restricted time, Lent is a quality season. It is a time of rediscovery, a golden chance to open ourselves more deeply to the beauty and power of the dying and rising to new life in Jesus. It is a time to ponder the reality of the death and resurrection and to allow it to soak into our deepest parts.
Lent is the time for new life and hope. In the Lenten season, self-examination is crucial. An individual’s response to the call for purposeful reflection on one’s need for God is an important factor in choosing how one will observe Lent.
Lent is a shining opportunity for experiencing “the unsearchable riches of Christ”, a time for spiritual growth so that we might walk in newness of life. Let us determine how we can take advantage of this opportunity and then dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly to our Lenten practice.
Prayer: Lord, thank You for the gift of Jesus who gives us the gift of eternal life. We ask that You would give us beautiful-feet opportunities, and inspire us to act on them. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.