What Lent really is, is a time where God says, “Remember what you know is true.” That’s all. It’s just a time of remembering and coming home to what we know brings life.
Absolutely love listening to Mark Yaconneli – so awesomely focused on God’s love for us. You can skip the preliminary part and jump to 3:00 on this video. Great reflections for the Lenten season. I didn’t really know what to lend-out for Lent this year, so I ended up choosing nothing. After listening to Mark here, I’m just reminded of God’s amazing love for us and my thought is to give up guilt and heavy self-expectations, and just soak-in God’s presence, love, mercy and grace in my life; and enjoy the sweetness of the reminder of what this season is celebrating – God’s unfathomable and amazing love for us! Love the simplicity focus of just praying to God, “Help”. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from this video:
Christianity is really the practice of relationships.
When we disconnect from all these things we pay attention to and come home to ourselves, it’s often hard and painful and there’s disappointment there. And yet, that’s the place that God waits. So, when I meet people and they’re like, “I have no experience of God.” Well you wanna know where God is? Well God’s waiting in your anger. Or God’s waiting in your grief. Or God’s waiting in your anxiety. And if you would just allow yourself or allow God to lead you into those hard and difficult places where we’re helpless, that’s where you meet the one who knows how to suffer with us.
God is always good news and God is always life-giving. So the question is where are you coming alive and how can you tend that or kindle that a little bit more.
What Lent really is, is a time where God says, “Remember what you know is true.” That’s all. It’s just a time of remembering and coming home to what we know brings life.
The whole spiritual life is just about choosing life, not death. Paying attention to what’s giving us life and letting go of the things that are hurting us.
God is not concerned with my spiritual perfection project. All God wants is the same thing a loving parents wants; God just wants to spend time with us…
It’s like the old dessert father, Irenaeus once said, “The glory of God is a human being, fully alive.”
And check out his suggestions for spiritual practices for this Lent – awesome! 🙂
This is just a great reminder for me and helps me to crave and hunger for that presence that I have not practiced well in a while. And I am so thankful that it is such a simple thing that can easily be done while driving or in the shower or even just taking a breath between tasks during your day or just enjoying simple pleasures or another person. Good reminder for this Lenten Season!
Howie's Blog 
This is very good! Thanks, for sharing it 😉
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLike
Thanks! So important.
LikeLike
Thank you for reading and commenting. Interesting thoughts from Yaconelli commenting on “spiritual perfection project” in consideration of the Wesleyan “Christian Perfection” theology I’ve learned. I believe that most today would focus on the idea of Perfect Love as the key for Christian Perfection and not getting caught up in the idea of a works-focused mentality. However, I think its a slippery slope and it seems like our human nature (and American work-ethic culture) so easily takes over with the idea of trying to earn God’s love and willing our way into spirituality that can easily turn into a spiritual perfection project. But Yaconelli does an amazing job reminding us of the relational focus that our walk in faith should be.
LikeLike