This morning I drove with Andy (the pastor at the other Covenant Church in Surrey down to Washington for our monthly area Covenant pastors' gathering. The fellowship is always uplifting and encouraging. On the way we passed some fields full of swans. The sun was out today (getting to be a rare occurrence again) and the temperature when I left church this afternoon was 10 degrees/50 F (the funny thing is, the picture on the front of the newspaper on our porch when I got home was of kids on a toboggan at Winterfest this past weekend). The boys and I went for a quick walk to the duck ponds behind our house before it got dark (I had walked past them this morning and saw ducks and even a heron). We saw a few different ducks and a pair of Canada geese. I believe I even heard a red wing blackbird. Nils was fascinated by the ducks (as you may be able to tell in the picture below). He could have just stood and watched them for hours--he wasn't even interested in the playground.
(if you don't want my attempt at some spiritual connection, stop here; otherwise, read on)
We're starting the second week of Lent. It's not an easy time to be in. We just finished Epiphany, focusing on the manifestation and revelation of Christ as the Light of the world. Signs of spring are close at hand (at least in our neck of the woods). Bulbs are beginning to poke up through the soil. And in the midst of it, we're on a journey toward Good Friday, focusing on the Passion of Christ along the way. It's not an easy time of year to be focusing on His 40 days of temptation in the wilderness, His suffering and our self-denial--especially when there's so much life going on around us. Maybe that's part of the temptation we face (or at least, I do): getting distracted too much and missing out on journeying with Christ, in spending more time in prayerful meditation, and in reflecting on God's great, unconditional love for each of us.
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I always had difficulty with Lent living in Washington. It never failed that Ash Wednesday would fall on the first sunny day in weeks (if not months). It was hard to begin that journey toward the cross when everything in your body was telling you to go outside dance around and run, enjoying the beauty of God's creation.
I remember reading a book on Celtic Christianity (I think it was the Celtic Resource Book by Martin Wallace) where the author suggested that we choose to celebrate Lent at a different time of year instead of at the beginning of spring, where our physiology is not going to cooperate with us. It made sense to me.
Of course, here in Iowa we just had more snow today and the high tomorrow is supposed to be 3 degrees above zero (f), so I'm not struggling with it the same way I did when I lived out there.
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