The Season of Lent – Creating Space to Experience God

Lent (an old English word for Spring) is the season we approach the crucifixion (Good Friday) and resurrection (Easter) of Jesus Christ. The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (Feb 22, 2012) and lasts 40 days (excluding Sundays). These 40 days represent the time Jesus spent fasting and praying in the wilderness as he prepared for his public ministry. The gospel accounts tell us that when Jesus was baptized, the Spirit descended on him like a dove and God the Father declared from heaven, “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life” (Mat 3:17). It was with these words still fresh on his mind that Jesus entered into the solitude of the distraction-free wilderness to meditate and create the space for these truths to sink deep into his heart. In this same way, we are invited to create space in our lives during this season of Lent to allow the declaration of God’s love for us, his sons and daughters, to flow into our souls with greater and greater depth.
Traditionally, we are invited to fast or give something up for the season of Lent. Fasting is an ancient practice that is often misunderstood. The purpose is not self-denial because we deserve hardship or a tool to manipulate God to achieve our ends.
The heart of healthy fasting is a recognition that, in the words of Jesus, “man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Innate within the practice of fasting is an understanding that we often live life on the superficial surface of things. We fall into habits and patterns so that our lives become somewhat mechanical. Get up, get ready, go to work, come home, watch TV/read, go to bed…. repeat. Fasting is simply a discipline or tool to rattle our pattern and create the space for God to wake us up to a deeper spiritual reality. Let’s say you fast from food for a day… instead of automatically feeding yourself when hungry like a machine… when the hunger pang hits… you pause… your normal pattern disrupted. You are reminded instead to reflect on and open up to God as your true sustenance and provider. While we do not have the power to transform ourselves or open our eyes to see God with greater depths, we do have the power to till the soil of our hearts and minds. Creating space in our lives by fasting or participating in other Lenten disciplines simply opens the doorways for God to reveal Himself to us.
Creating this space reminded me of this wonderful quote by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She wrote, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries, And daub their natural faces unaware…“