FEB. 2018

February is a month of contrasts. It has a happy holiday - Valentine’s Day;
it has pensive days as we enter the season of Lent; and it has amazingly
changeable weather. Almost everyone is, by February, tired of the short
days of winter and too much darkness. And so we gratefully acknowledge
that It is, most of all, the shortest month.
To we Christians, the days of Lent should be a time of reflection. Whether
we are burdened by sins too great to admit or are relatively comfortable with
our spiritual condition, Lent should bring us to our senses. In this 21st
century, we live in a world that is fascinated by immoral behavior, and too
often willing to allow criminal acts be explained away. All of it presented to
us ad nauseum on TV, internet and printed page.
Lent is a time for pondering how we’re doing – honestly. Almost anyone
can feel pretty good about his self when he looks at what acts are done, or
what behavior takes place, as presented to us all – including children – on
the public media. Surely, we are more righteous than that?
So why do we have this season of Lent? Perhaps it would be helpful to
open our Bibles. No, we won’t find the season, Lent, defined in the
scriptures. What we will find, though, is a narrative of fear, cruelty, injustice,
disbelief, unbelief, joy… and just about every emotion to which humans are
subject. All of this taking place in the space of just one week.
To those who lived it, it was a week that changed their lives forever. For all
of us who have come since, it is a week that can still change lives forever.
For us, the meaning of that tumultuous week cannot be absorbed in just 7
days. The importance of what took place, and why, requires time and
solitude, reading and meditation. It requires that we acknowledge that our
spiritual state is not based on how we stack up against our neighbor or the
person in the headlines. It requires that we look to and compare ourselves
to our Savior Jesus Christ – the perfect person. Such requires all of the
forty days of Lent – and more. May your February and your Lent be
spiritually profitable.