Did you know that Lent means spring?
Literally, the word Lent comes from the Old English word "lencten" which means spring.
Aha! Now we are talking!
This has been a brutal winter in the Midwest, to put it mildly. Frigid, icy, snowy, isolating, mind-numbing.
Long.
The yearning for spring is palpable.
It is not only my body that yearns for spring, my soul does, too.
I have been pretty numb lately. Walking around in a stupor. Stumbling through my routines, steeling myself against the frigid air. Walking with my eyes down, watching for the ever-present ice, blinded to much of what happens all around me by my incessant need to get warm.
I need spring. I need Lent.
What if Lent could be a kind of spring for me this year? For you?
What if ... as I watch the spring sun shine through my windows revealing all the dirt I've allowed to build up in the darkness of winter, I also watch for God's gentle light to reveal that which needs to be swept out of my soul?
What if ... as I yearn for the first balmy breezes of spring to remind me that the earth will soon burst into bloom, I also yearn for the winds of the Spirit to bring new life to my winter-weary self?
What if ... as I anticipate the early thunderstorms that wash the gritty streets and sidewalks clean, I also anticipate the rivers of living water Jesus promises me right in the gritty mess of my daily existence?
What if Lent could be a kind of spring for me this year?
For you?
