Into the Desert

Hello brothers and sisters! Welcome to Lent. We only have 40 days to prepare for Easter - the best day of the year for Christians. On Easter, Jesus broke the chains of death, making it possible for us to live forever. I'm pretty excited.
A lot of people have a pretty dismal view of Lent. If you feel that way, have no fear. I always thought that Lent was like a month-long funeral until last year. I have really started to see the beauty of it now. It just takes a little imagination and the willingness to put a  little work into it.
I like to use this lovely metaphor. Imagine a garden. The harvest comes. The produce is gathered. Then what? Winter bears down its heavy coat of misery upon the ground. Now we are in February. I hate February. So blech. So dark. Its starting to get rainy. Cabin fever makes my bones restless. It seems like winter will never end. But spring is just around the corner. All the rain is thawing out the ground, preparing the earth to receive the warm sunshine. Spring is just around the corner.
Now imagine a seed. The helpless little thing is drowned by all the rain, and nearly frozen to death by the last nights of frost. But it begins to grow. What courage! Every seed starts in darkness and hardship, but will become something so great!
This is like Lent. We are the seeds. The Church is the earth, the weather, the elements. We are going through a period of hardship, but it all serves a purpose! God is tiling our hearts, preparing us to burst into spring-time glory! It wont be long and everything will be full of life, including our hearts. But first, God has a lot of work to do on us before we are ready to produce the harvest.
We're walking through a desert. We're standing in the snow. We're being pounded by the rain. We're learning to put aside our bodily desires and the sins of the flesh so that our souls can come to full life. We should be fully willing to nail our hearts to the cross next to Jesus, because only by dying with Him can we ever hope to rise with Him.
Welcome to Lent. Are you ready to do what it takes to give your soul a makeover? :-)

"In the cool of the day You come and meet me.
All the blue fades away. The stars are winking.
Your love's so strong. I can't recall.
What was this thing They called the fall?

(Refrain)
And You walk with me.You never leave.
You're making my heart a garden.

Oh, why would I hide Away from Your face
When the light of Your love Illuminates

Your hand in mine. A steady line
Drawn on my heart And deep in my mind

All the broken are mending. The mournful rejoicing.
Seeing through tears Of peace overflowing.

(Refrain)"
Garden - Matt Maher