LENT'S ONE FLOWER

We are gardeners, all of us; we plant and harvest in so many areas of our lives, in relationships, in our spiritual life, in our families, in our physical world. We even reap and sow in our emotional lives. How interesting. "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping carrying seed to sow will return carrying sheaves with him." Psalm 126:5-6

Last night I watched a beautiful friend of mine, as she cried with sorrow over her daughter's illness. I wept. Such love and devotion mingled with the unknown and unexpected. We all struggle to meet life's demands with our meager resources, and yet here was my friend, sowing hope, while she wept.

How can we meet the rush and demands, the excruciating expectation and overwhelming loss of our everyday lives and loves? It is all in acknowledging that we are planting. "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until He comes and showers righteousness on you." Hosea 10:12 

God digs deep in sadness and disappointment, in hurt and pain, causing us to seek Him. When we begin to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God, we will indeed find that He showers His righteousness and unfailing love upon us. These lingering days of Lent are an opportunity to ask God, "Am I planting righteousness, am I listening to you, have I taken anything out of my life that I might hear you better? 

If only I can imitate God's kindness, it is the one flower I am sowing.

Medicine from Sacred Writing:

"Let us endeavor to carry along with us a memento of the present fast when it is over."

John Chrysostom  Fourth Century

LENT'S GARDEN

I am still sitting before the fire looking at ashes, surely they must be good for something other than my stirring. Unprocessed emotion: hurt, frustration, unresolved anger, all these leap up in flames as the fire roars, but then, when all is silent and we are alone, these emotions leave us cold, confused and agitated.

How, in Lent, do I light a holy fire in my soul? I give God permission to clean out the ashes, as I grieve, adding my tears to the sorrow in my heart. Water and ashes make lye. Soap. God washes my soul with the very hurt that has wounded me; He purifies me with pain that I might be more His and less mine.

 Then He asks me to take the leftover ashes, those that haven't refined my soul, and bury them in the garden. Some pain must just be let go of, taken out of our hearts as God asks us to move on, to grow and be changed. Ashes balance the ground's acidity; acidic items contain no oxygen so they must be combined with others to bring life. God adds joy and peace to the grief of our souls.

  "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

It all has to breathe, our soil and our souls; God's mercy mixes with our humanity, transforming us.

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"I pray that out of God's glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ." Ephesians 3:16-19

ASHES OF LENT

I am still lingering by Lent's fire pondering God's words. He is a consuming fire and the writer of Hebrews begs us not to "refuse Him who speaks." Hebrews 12:25-29 I am struck by the warmth of God's invitation and yet in awe of the demand to listen to His voice. 

"I have lit the fire of your soul and you are now warmed in My  Presence. No need to see yourself as a forsaken Cinderella guarding the gate of ashes. I have come."

He startles me with His Presence; I had been busy stirring up the ashes of my sins and failures. Lent is never about wallowing, but always about transformation. I have a Father who picks me up and takes me in His loving arms. Here I give thanks, here I cry out to Him, here I listen and learn how to love Him and others. 

The fairy Godmother has not come, the King Himself clothes you.

Medicine from Sacred Writings:

"If any one should have hay, wood, stubble, he increases the fire;  but if he have gold and silver he becomes the brighter. Therefore let us get together this kind of material, and let us bear the present things nobly."

John Chrysostom    Fourth Century

LENT'S FIRE

"Come, I will wrap you in light; you will be warmed by My Presence. The fire of My love will burn bright in your soul."

The invitation is exquisite, isn't it?

"Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with Me." Revelation 3:19-20 



 Never have I considered the call before the invitation. I want to be invited to dine with God, I'm not too keen on His rebuke and discipline. God calls us to honest relationship where we respond to His voice and submit to His discipline.

Repentance is the call to turn to God, to rend our hearts, to rip them from attachments and illusions restoring them to their rightful owner. Rending is not pretty, it is to remove from place violently, to split or tear apart or in pieces by violence, to lacerate mentally or emotionally. Tear yourself from all that keeps you from God that you might hear His invitation to dine with Him.

The flame that warms also purifies. Have you allowed God to wash you clean this Lent?

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"For He will be like a refiner's fire or launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver." Malachi 3:2-3

LENT'S CROWN

Footprints of mercy 

fill my soul 

as the King of heaven 

walks within.

Holy love 

lights the way

Trembling, I follow.

dhallenbeck 

Medicine from Sacred Writings:

"A merciful man is not arrayed in a vest reaching to the feet, nor does he carry about bells, nor wear a crown; but he is wrapped in a  sacred vestment, and is anointed with oil, not composed of material elements, but produced by the Spirit, and he bears a crown of mercies, for it is said, "Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits- 

who crowns you with love and mercy."

Psalm 104:1, 2, 4

John Chrysostom    Fourth Century

BRIDGES OF LENT

Mercy is like a bridge, it connects us to God and to others. As God pours His mercy on us we are given the grace to go and do likewise. "He has shown you what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8  We have two choices every time we meet, greet or grieve someone- we are compassionate or we judge.  God's requirement is the very essence of a life of love; walls melt under the weight of that kind of grace.

I, on the other hand, have a very different internal wiring. My heart's response is so far from the heart of God; if compassion and forgiveness is God's signature, mine is wary regard. You wouldn't think so if you first met me, but Lent is never about appearances, it is about the heart. 

I am learning my bridges are under construction; my travel has been prohibited to my old wooden path of defensiveness, judgement and hurtful words. I am to walk in His ways, asks for His grace and allow Him to make my heart new. How refreshing to allow mercy to open a new fountain in me, one filled with His grace and kindness.

Trusting and resting in His love and abiding Presence, the thaw begins. "Come to Me and you will find streams of living water flowing from Me to you." Correcting my perceptions in His presence gives the interior freedom to respond with compassion.

More construction in my soul... how is yours going?

Medicine from Sacred Scripture:

"Show me Your ways, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior and my hope is in You all day long. Remember, O Lord, Your great mercy and love. 

Psalm 25:4-6

THE REFLECTION OF LENT

Mirrors are made for looking at ourselves to be sure we are at our best; we check on the way out the door, some of us, to be sure our hair is in place and nothing is out of order in our appearance. Lent is like a mirror to the soul, each "thing" we give up can expose our deepest desires revealing the holy. "Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God." Matthew 5:8 Sin is like a funhouse of mirrors, our true identity is warped and stretched, sometimes beyond recognition.

We can stop drinking, eating sugar, swearing, eating meat and yet all this is meaningless if it does not lead us of out of the chaos of sin and self to God and holiness. I want to say my Lent is a failure because I have eaten dessert and had wine with dinner (no chocolate bars, though, in these many days). The journey is the the joy of knowing I am loved and saved from my sin, delighted in and yet called to be more like Him.

I look towards heaven and cry,"God have mercy on me sinner." Luke 18:13 I am still judging, oh Father, give me your grace. I am hurt by insults, Lord fill me with your love. I long to be like You, come to my rescue.

Medicine from Sacred Writing:

"I have observed many people rejoicing, and saying, one to another, "We have conquered; we have prevailed; the half of the fast is spent." But I exhort such persons not to rejoice on this account, that the half of the fast is gone, but  to consider whether the half of their sins be gone; and if so to exult. For this is what is to be sought after, and for which all things are done, that we may correct our defects; that we may not quit the fast the same persons as we entered upon it."

John Chrysostom   Fourth Century