Phew! What a day.
Today marks the start of the Lenten season. 40 days to reflect, pray, slow down, repent, and prepare for Holy Week and Easter. It is one of my most favorite seasons of the year. I had all these grand plans of ways to start the Lenten season at school today (like we did last year), but some rain that came through the night and morning made their way into our basement and changed the plans I had made. I wouldn't have said this a couple of hours ago, but I'm kind of glad they did. It made me see how much weight I put into my own plans, my own ideas, my own expectations. My identity is not found in those things, and today made me draw near to God and away from myself. Not the day I had planned, but glad it was given to me.
"Lent is a time of returning to God. It is a time to confess how we keep looking for joy, peace, and satisfaction in the many people and things surrounding us, without really finding what we desire. Only God can give us what we want. Lent is a time of refocusing, of re-entering the place of truth, of reclaiming our true identity." - Henri Nouwen, Eternal Seasons
