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Journey through the wilderness this Lenten season with a new blog published every week by Patrick.

Welcome to Lent!

I am unsure about you, but this definitely isn’t my favourite liturgical season. Don’t get me wrong, I love Easter, but I always find the trudge through Lent rather difficult. 

Perhaps it is because it always comes in the middle of a cold and dark winter. 

But I really think it’s because Lent asks you and me to sacrifice. And if I’m being honest, sacrifice is challenging, difficult, and oftentimes uncomfortable.

And while we often refer to Lent as the time of fasting, almsgiving and prayer between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, the history of the word “Lent” tells us something interesting. 

Lent comes from the Old English lencten, meaning springtime. So you want renewal and a new springtime in your life? Embrace the sacrifice of the cross. Head into the wilderness.

We need the wilderness in our spiritual lives. In fact, the wilderness is Biblical.

Writing in Wild at Heart, John Eldredge says, “Moses does not encounter the living God in the mall. He finds him (or is found by him) somewhere out in the deserts of Sinai, a long way from the comforts of Egypt. The same is true of Jacob, who has his wrestling match with God not on the living room sofa but in a wadi somewhere east of the Jabbok, in Mesopotamia. Where did the great prophet Elijah go to recover his strength? To the wild. As did John the Baptist, and his cousin, Jesus, who is led by the Spirit into the wilderness” (p.5).

This Lent, amidst the challenge and temptation to give up and give in, say no! Let’s commit to allowing ourselves to be found by God and blessed by Him in the wilderness. 

And while we trudge along step-by-step in the wilderness, we can have confident hope that God is indeed with us. Our journey now will make the beauty of spring and the joy of the resurrection that much sweeter. 

I look forward to journeying with you in the highs and lows, through the wilderness over the next forty days. 

Patrick is a beloved son of the Father who desires to use his gifts to build up the Kingdom of God. You can read more of his writing on his blog.