Here we are two weeks into Lent and I haven’t written a post about this time of year. No big deal you may think, because you don’t recognize Lent or do anything special to participate in it. Well, maybe it’s time you considered it. Let me explain…
Let’s Consider Lent
Lent is the 40-day period approaching Holy Week and Easter Sunday, usually associated with fasting, repentance, or sacrificial giving. It is commonly considered a Catholic ritual, but I know of several local Protestant churches and friends who routinely participate in Lenten and Holy Week services, prayer practices, and such, just like they do for Advent (the season preceding Christmas).
This is my 5th year of actively participating in the Lenten season. I’ve written about it several times: how and why I stumbled onto this practice, how it changed me and what I fasted from, and even about my son’s Lenten journey last year. This year I was at a loss on how to change my Lenten practices, what to give up, etc. I am again abstaining from alcohol and sweets. Although, it seems to be part of an annual body cleanse now more than a strictly spiritual sacrifice.
Yesterday, I got an answer to how this Lent will be different. It wasn’t about doing something different, it was about being something different. The only way I can be different is to allow God access to my heart and mind. And He gets hours of it in our weekly appointment at my sacred space.
He reminded me that after four years of dedicated weekly prayer time, that He has already transformed me from the inside out and made me into something new (yet again). In our time together, He routinely speaks to me, guides me, and gives me peace. He convicts me of my sinful ways and points me back to His will and ways. (Although I do often wrestle with him when it comes to letting go of my grip on things.)
My willingness to enter the Catholic church over four years ago and start my weekly appointments with God have given Him more access to me not just at Lent, but year-round. He reminded me that I don’t need to do anything different for Lent this year.
Seek Me in this Place
I am to just keep coming, keep seeking His will, keep listening for His voice, and keep writing about His messages to me—either in private or publically on my blog. He will let me know when and how much to share.
Habakkuk 2:1 says, “I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how He will answer.”
Oddly enough, my watchtower is in a Catholic church, and my guardpost is in the sanctity of its small chapel.
Listening for God at the guardpost (local chapel).
It started with the season of Lent five years ago. I embraced the mystery of Jesus there, a very unusual thing for a Protestant to do. He was stretching me outside of my comfort zone as He showed up and kept wooing me to seek Him there every week.
It changed me. It changed my prayer practices. It has also trickled into my family, has rubbed off on some of my friends, and is modeled in the groups I lead and participate in.
How are you Giving God more Access?
So the message I am sharing today is about doing whatever it takes to give God more access in your life.
Make time in your schedule. Find a quiet place. Read the Bible. Pray. Listen. Record what happens.
Lent is a the perfect time to do that, and make this Easter not just one of those Sundays that you have to go to church. Make it a season and way to give God access to your life in new and mysterious ways. And you’ll never be the same again.
How are you giving God more access to you? Where is your watchtower? I’d love to hear about what you are doing for Lent.
Making Me Bold 