Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday - I have personally never observed Lent or Ash Wednesday. I always saw it as a Catholic tradition (My tiny little Italian Grandma always had ashes on her head every year) and out of my limited knowledge on the topic, would often pass by the subject. But, I love what it leads up to, Easter! Resurrection Sunday! The day that Jesus said "take that Satan" and conquered death, hell & the grave. The day that Jesus finalized my freedom. I love Easter.

A friend posted a wonderfully written blog post that got me to thinking about Lent and all it means. So I've been doing some reading for myself. While indeed it remains a tradition that Catholics do observe, many other faiths observe it as well. I love this from Wikipedia:

"There are traditionally forty days in Lent which are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance. The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigour during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbour). Today, some people give up a vice of theirs, add something that will bring them closer to God, and often give the time or money spent doing that to charitable purposes or organizations."

Although I don't feel we need to pay penance for our sin, as Jesus did that in totality on the cross, I do think it's necessary to continually check our hearts, to be sure there is no sin in us. It's so easy for that junk to creep in. Oh thank you Jesus for continual forgiveness the moment we ask...

Our church has participated in a few corporate fasts and let me tell you, I saw God move not only on our churches behalf, but in my own personal life as well. God did some amazing stuff while we fasted; we saw tremendous breakthrough in many areas. So there is most definitely something to be said for fasting, it's powerful stuff. You combine that with prayer and look out Jack! God will move on your behalf.

But more than what God will do on our behalf, I think about Jesus, my sweet, sweet Lord - the Savior of my life. The man that has given me so much, without me deserving it in the slightest. The man that has picked me up out of the muck and mire more times than I can count. Jesus. When I think about Him fasting in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by Satan - Satan trying with all he could to abort the mission of the Cross, there's Jesus, quoting scripture right at the devil and conquering His own personal flesh - because remember, He was TOTALLY flesh.

Then he goes on and heals people, He gives people hope, He reaches down to the lowest of the low, He befriends the unfriendly, He went where nobody else wanted to go and sought out the people nobody else wanted to seek out...

And as if doing all those wonderful things and more that we don't even know about, as if that were not enough, He goes to the Cross. Oh the Cross. He was nailed there. But they didn't even need to bother with the nails; because He would have stayed there anyway. He would have stayed there anyway. HE WOULD HAVE STAYED THERE ANYWAY. For me. And for you.

Then comes Easter Sunday! My favorite. Sweet freedom.

So I share all that to say this, I don't know yet what the Lord would have me do to observe this season, but when I think about my best friend Jesus, My Father, when I think about Him enduring a 40 day fast, ministering to anyone and everyone, going to the cross and then triumphing over it all - I have to do something. My heart longs to do something. I love Jesus. And he loves me. Enough to stay on that cross, without the nails.