Love in the wilderness

Entering into Lent can feel momentous - and quite rightly so. It is a time for turning and returning to God with all our hearts; a time of grace and growth, forgiveness and renewal... A time for fasting, and for prolonged prayer and greater generosity, and journeying into God's depths. Yes, embarking on it is momentous... And yet; it is also as simple as an ordinary day, a plain light meal, and an ash-blackened thumb tracing a cross on our forehead... And, in my case, as ridiculously simple as coming down with a cold! Sneezing and wheezing and feeling headache-y is not how I would choose to spend the first days of Lent (or indeed any days!) - but it is the somewhat unmomentous way into this season that seems to have been chosen for me, and which can bring its own opportunities and treasures, if I allow it to.

Maybe Lent feels especially momentous because of the language we often use to describe it. This year especially, I have noticed a lot of references to wilderness. And indeed, this is where we are called to be; where we are called to encounter Jesus, who in turn accompanies and strengthens us, and will never leave us to face our wastelands alone. But in the days leading up to Ash Wednesday, I also saw and experienced many references and calls to love. And surely Lent is a season in which we are called to journey into Love: a season in which we are invited to allow our hearts to be stretched and widened, and allow ourselves to be called to greater, deeper, more generous, whole-hearted and compassionate loving. 

And we will find Love in our wildernesses, awaiting us with open, outstretched arms! And thus we discover that the desert places of our Lents aren't grimly barren and inhospitable, because they are filled with opportunities for transformation, and moments where grace, like a cloud-defying sunburst, can break through - and because Love is already, always there.

And reflecting on this, I remembered some words by Terry Tempest Williams: If you know wilderness in the way that you know love, you would be unwilling to let it go... And I recall the times when I have found Love in the wildnerness, and know that it can still be so. 

Wishing you all a blessed and renewing Lent, and a heart-widening journey into Love's everlasting depths!