Stop! Yes, STOP!
Rest, reflect and repent. Be still, contemplate and turn around.
Shrove Tuesday has gone. Today is Ash Wednesday. Lent is here. A season of preparation for Easter. In a sense Lent is a bit like covid lockdown but in a voluntary sense. We can either resent the restriction it brings or within the challenge see the opportunities it brings.
Why do we-I-find Lent hard? Is it because we associate it with seemingly negative things, like giving up chocolate? There is no doubt that when Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness (at the start, not the end of his ministry) it was really tough. But it was the launchpad for all He was to achieve going forward. Interestingly, repent in Hebrew means to turn round but towards something that is good. Lent can be many things but above all it’s about getting our focus right first so that we can do right as a fruit of that.
I have been promising to tell you what I planned to do for 60@60 in Lent. So here are the ideas:
*Cook meals from different persecuted countries
*Live like a North Korean for a week on a basic diet
*Delete my BBC sport app
Photo by Tembela Bohle on Pexels.com
*Memorise Isaiah 60
Each of these will be quite a challenge (the app is already deleted). But it will be good to stand alongside my persecuted family food wise. The memorisation reminds me that many around the world are still not allowed bibles (it is forbidden to buy a Bible on the Internet in China, for example and owning one can get you executed in North Korea 🇰🇵)
I shall also be looking out for opportunities to bless others-it’s great to be positive during Lent too!
Rest, reflect and repent. I hope you get the chance to do that too.
Adrian@60 