Lent Begins

Today, Wednesday 22^nd February marks the start of Lent.  In our Christian calendar Lent signifies the approximately 6 weeks leading up to Easter, the time we commemorate the death, and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Just as we prepare for any big event in our lives (I am thinking weddings and significant anniversaries or birthdays here) when we observe Lent, we can think of it as a time to prepare ourselves for these significant Easter events.  There are many ways to do this, some church traditions have used this time to ‘give up’ something. Some people use it to ‘reset’ their personal spiritual habits by following a certain daily devotional, a time to ‘get back on track’ as it were.

Whichever way we enter into this time, I pray that we are reminded of the character of God. We’ve been looking at aspects of His nature through ‘The Names of God’ series.   The prophet Joel describes His nature this way: a God who is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. So, I pray also that as we contemplate Jesus’ glory that we will, by the Spirit, be transformed into His image, seeking to reflect the nature of God to a broken world through our transformed and transforming lives.

Colleen