As I write this, Lent is just a week and a half away. If we were in New Orleans, we would be partying towards Mardi Gras. But here in Champaign, I am thinking about making sure the Christmas decorations are completely put away and the house is clear of everything extraneous.
Lent is a time for quiet reflection clear of distractions. It is a time of barrenness. It is a time for reading Scripture. And it is a time for sacrifice.
I am following the get ready section of Holy Solitude and putting away the candles, hanging a bare willow branch wreath on the front door, and putting together a tabletop decoration to remind me of solitude, like a vase of bare sticks with perhaps a bit of purple ribbon interwoven. And, I am getting a space ready with my bible, journal and our book, so I can do my daily devotions that will be a place of retreat.
I invite you to do the same.
Lent is a time for quiet reflection clear of distractions. It is a time of barrenness. It is a time for reading Scripture. And it is a time for sacrifice.
I am following the get ready section of Holy Solitude and putting away the candles, hanging a bare willow branch wreath on the front door, and putting together a tabletop decoration to remind me of solitude, like a vase of bare sticks with perhaps a bit of purple ribbon interwoven. And, I am getting a space ready with my bible, journal and our book, so I can do my daily devotions that will be a place of retreat.
I invite you to do the same.
I accept your invitation! This past month my world has been a topsy-turvy one. I have been living out of a suitcase as we packed all of our belongings into a massive truck and two cars and then drove 12 hours to a foreign land that was cold and unknown. We unloaded it all in an entirely new arrangement, an ample house but a smaller one so nothing quite fits right. One the one hand it is humbling to see the amount of stuff that we have accumulated over the years. On the other hand it is exhilarating to have a fresh start. We get to choose what to leave and what to take. That is empowering! If the external world is any reflection at all of the inner world, I have a lot to sort through with each new box opened and each treasure unwrapped. So I welcome this Lenten season as a season to sort and reattach to my Maker. My space is a room full of windows and light, a spacious room that gives me a place to breath. It is a little drafty and cold. Perhaps the cold will help me seek the warmth of a loving God. Drift wood and seashells are omens of the weeks of wilderness ahead but I cannot bear to travel the wilderness without my plants so they line the windows waiting to be re-potted, watered and fed into new life just as I wait during these moments of solitude.
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