Stop! In the name of love...

As I was explaining Lent to a group of primary school children this week, I talked of how Jesus, before he was famous, before he started teaching or healing or making miracles, went into the desert for 40 days. A lone voice piped up: "Why? "
Good question!
I explained that, sometimes, before we start out on something new, it's good to take time to think about it. Before we begin something important, it's good to work out how. Peace and quiet and space help us move forward.
We may not choose the desert or the wilderness as our space. We may prefer the beach or the forest - or even our own room, but we all need a Space that leaves the world behind and allows us to get things straight in our heads.

The call to repentance comes to us today 

to be embraced not as a once for all 

but as a discipline to be repeated 

time and again. 

In high seasons and in low 

in business and in quiet 

Finding wilderness spaces 

allows us to turn again 

to the God whom we lost  

in all the distractions that life presents -  

the God who looks into our eyes, 

tells us we are beloved children 

and then reveals a work that only we can do. 

God calls us to trek through the wilderness 

in preparation 

for striding through life focused on God's mission. 

Liz Crumlish Lent 2012