A Time Called Lent

FRI., MAR. 6, 1992, 6:26 AM
FARM, STUDY

You joined a group on Wednesday who “celebrated” that Day of Ash, the beginning of Lent. This is a part of the Christian year, but it doesn’t mean much to you. So, as the sun rises hear some thoughts of Mine about this special Spring season.

It is a little strange for a time in Spring. As you look out you see new growth… green, buds, and flowers… a time of the evidence of new life in the earth. Yet Lent precedes and reminds you of Holy Week, when I, as Jesus, was first heralded and then reviled, “set-up,” tried, convicted, and crucified. The Supreme of life was leaving the earth, both because of the sinful acts of some and because I chose to give My life. The Lenten season leads up to the betrayal and, finally, the death, which does not match well with Spring (unless, of course, there is a late blast of cold air that brings death to the beautiful, fragile blossoms). Then coms Easter morn with its celebration of life renewed, even in the earth… though it is to be for a short time only. It finally is, as a symbol, the remembrance of life in the spirit being ever-living and not subject to the oblivion of death.

As a reasonably mature Christian you have come through this season many times. You have not been one who responds fully to this long time of remembrance, because you know how it comes out. You know that Easter comes, and that death is not final. So why all the attention to the ugly aspects of the story… the suffering and the death? You are not one to sacrifice, in some way comparable to My sacrifice, as Jesus… even as your attempts to lose some of your girth coincides with Lent. There is value in that if it is done with the right spirit and the right remembrance. Why not tie your resolves in relation to food and drink in with Lent? It could make your “sacrifices” more spiritual and therefore easier to keep.

You liked the Ash remembrance, for you deal often with ashes during half the year. When good wood is burned, for heat and light, the remains are ashes. They no longer are of any value for heat and light, so they are strewn n the lawn or in the woods, to become part of the fertile earth again. From the fertile earth comes a tree, and as it grows it takes some of the food value from the earth. Its life is over when it is burned, but the ashes can be returned, so that new life might flourish and continue.

Your body was created from two cells, and it has grown (sometimes excessively) and developed rather well. It is now in the latter stages of life, and when your heart ceases to beat and your lungs to take in air, it will die. Like unto the ashes it can be returned to the earth in order to increase fertility and sustain life. Your spirit then separates from these “ashes” and moves on, perhaps in a spiritual body, perhaps just as spirit, as I am. The mark of the cross, in ash, is a good symbol for this important remembrance.

Lent should be at time of appreciation for life. It should be a time of extra giving, in appreciation of My gift for you. So give time to Pedro. Give time to Dorothy. Take time to write notes on the ends of your letter. Talk with Matthew. Give the needed money to son Bob and write him an encouraging letter. Just be more aware of opportunities to give, and take more of them than you normally would.

Your full body function has not returned, but most has, and of this you should be appreciative… and should enjoy the almost normal walking that now is possible. Running may or may not return. If it does, enjoy this fully. And yet let this disability continue to remind you of how good your life has been and that you should show this forth each day in some obvious ways.