So, as we start what will be the third week of Lent, twenty days down and 25 or 26 to go, it might be good to take a moment and reflect on the purpose for the reflection. Â The reason we are doing all this.
My questions to myself, and you would be:
1: Â Have you been able to maintain your commitment to do certain things more (reflect on the scriptures, pray and act generously?) Â If you never started, or if you got a couple of days in and dropped the ball, this can be a great time to start or re-start!
2: Â Whether that answer is yes or no, what has this process shown you? Â Try to avoid going into a shameful stance if you have not kept those practices or into personal congratulations if you have.
3: Â What has God shown you as you have gone through this process?
4: Â How is this season preparing me to receive with fresh excitement the news that our Messiah has been resurrected?
We will likely take a couple more of these heart-check moments so that we can allow God the maximum input into our lives. Â Or likely, take the almost constant speaking of God and just pay much greater attention to it.
Today’s prayer:
ALMIGHTY God, whose Mary-like beauty compels our attention, give us hearts that jump within up with the good news of your salvation.  We confess that amidst the tedium of the everyday our worship of you sometimes feels like a job — just “one more thing.”  Thank you for the unsettling of our lives, wherein we discover the splendor of the kingdom made possible by your Son, Jesus Christ.  We pray that you will ever be here, unsettling our attempts to domesticate the wildness of your Spirit.  AMEN.  Stanley Hauerwas
Peace, Jim