With the snow falling outside like we haven’t had in a few years, and the beginning of lent just last week, it got me to thinking… how much is my life like the scene I see out my front window today?
Might seem like an odd question, but how often are we just like the ground? Yesterday we had a few centimeters of wet snow that made a sloppy mess on the sidewalk and driveway. I left very early in the morning and arrived long after it had all frozen. Then today we got another dumping of snow. Now all that slush is frozen into bumps and hills and footprints. If I leave my life unchecked things get out of control underneath and before I know it I can get buried beneath a fresh “snow” of worry, doubt, circumstances etc.. So this year for lent rather than fasting from something I’m going to be trading things instead. I do this to prepare my heart to celebrate when my Saviour traded his death for my life. My hope is that by trading things that produce death for things that produce life I can see Jesus dig through the layers of “snow” I’ve let build and melt the “ice” underneath to reveal who He’s already created me to be.
I want to trade things like rhythm for complacency, healthy living for laziness, rest for the tyranny of the immediate. My trading can only do so much however, this simply gets me into the posture of surrender. I head away this week for 9 days of intensive training and life reorienting and I am trusting Jesus to do the work that no amount of my “trading” could ever do. So may you find Jesus to be the master shoveller in your life to remove the layers of snow and ice that weigh you down and literally suck the life right out of you. And may you find yourself at Easter a person of godly character who is experiencing the full life that only Jesus offers – no matter what the season in life.