Lent Focus #2 Frail, Fleeting, but not Final!
“There is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious ...”
C.S. Lewis
This beautiful church belonged in a small New Hampshire city. Across the street, we enjoyed amazing wood-fired pizza. Our brief stop on a cloudy New England day was a special experience.
The season of Lent is a time that fills the soul with wonder. It is a solemn time, and yet it is filled with great happiness since we realize the culmination of Lent is Easter. Easter Sunday, when congregations throughout the world sing joyously, “Up from the Grave He Arose.”
The word “Lent” is derived from the Old English word “lengten,” which means “spring.” Spring, when daylight lengthens, when new life emerges from frozen ground, and promise buds on barren branches.
During the forty plus days of Lent, we anticipate the new life Jesus, the Light of the World, brought when he defeated sin and death on the cross.[i]
Lent, like Spring, ushers in hope that is mysterious but real and welcomed.
Lent is a time for reflection, a time to consider how I live and love during whatever days my life holds.
During the past few years, Ron and I have lost each of our parents to death. We have said final earthly good-byes to other beloved family members and dear friends. Each death reminds us that our lives here on planet earth are frail and fleeting. But we are also reminded that because of the work Jesus did on the cross, death is not final!
During Lent 2022, I have subscribed to a variety of Lenten devotionals. In a recent one, the story was told of a young neurosurgeon resident who was diagnosed with cancer. Following his death, Paul Kalanithi’s memoir was published, and in When Breath Becomes Air, he quotes words his oncologist said before he died: “This is not the end. Or even the beginning of the end. This is just the end of the beginning.”[ii]
Lent reminds me that even though I will experience an earthly ending, that ending will in fact be only the beginning.
Why? Because of the cross!
Blessings while we wait,
[i] Information for these thoughts from Gospel in Life info@gospelinlife.com email received 3/1/2022
[ii] https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/wondrous-cross-easter-lent-devotional