Hint of Spring…
I have to admit, I am showing up to this Holy Uprising empty handed. I want to want to be repentant. I want to want to fast. But I am struggling with selfish thoughts. Like many of you reading this, I feel like I already have too many irons in the fire. I’m working, going to school, trying to be a giving wife and mom and life-group participant. What exactly do I have left to give up? I confess I felt a little like this Lent thing is more than I can handle right now. So, out of obedience and not much else, this morning I read the devotional posted online. I prayed for God to please quiet my racing mind so I could soak in His Word. I thought about the words of the devotional today- reading them over and over. I tried speaking them out loud. I looked at the beautiful photos of His creation. I wanted to live in THAT reality- in the presence of His Majesty “Honor and majesty surround him; strength and joy fill his dwelling” (1 Chron 16:25-30)- not the frenzied non-reality I had constructed in my mind of to-do lists, guilt, deadlines and obligations. I finished the devotional and looked around the house at the piles of dirty laundry, dishes in the sink, to-do lists, and textbooks. I sighed and thought, “well, back to reality”.
But the sunlight was streaming in the windows and I decided, no not yet. I want to hang out with God a little longer.
“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in all the earth” Psalm 46:10
I just sat there with the sunlight in my face. Being still. Some verses came to mind…
The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."- Exodus 33:14
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
Cast all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8
My yoke is easy and my burden is light Matthew 11:30
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10
As I sat there in the sunlight, I was overcome with gratitude for that time of rest in the warmth shining in from the window. I realized that the season of Lent shouldn’t feel like a burden. It is a rest. It’s a rest from the junk- the heavy yoke—the distractions from God’s goodness- that we put on ourselves when we try to single-handedly run our own lives. Humbling ourselves doesn’t mean we stay down in the ashes. It means we make ourselves available to be picked up.
This past Sunday, Feb 28, was the Jewish holiday of Purim. Talk about an example of God turning ashes and mourning into gladness! When they humbled themselves and cried out to God, he turned their death-sentence under Haman into a place of honor and security.
Esther 9:20-22
20 Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, 21 to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar 22 as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
It is my prayer that we would allow God to use this season of Lent to remove the burdens we were never intended to carry from our white-knuckled grip. What cares do you need to cast upon him?
No comments:
Post a Comment