Let Him

Taste and see that the Lord is good… Psalm 34:8

Yes is a great word for Lent!  Yes, Lord, I can do that; Yes, Lord I can do without that; Yes, Lord I can add that to my day.  The beginning of Lent is so hopeful and full of promise. I always have such confidence in my YES!  Yes, I will love you, love your people and serve you faithfully during the next 40 days.  

It’s crazy how the focus is all about what I will do. It struck me the other evening while washing dishes in the quiet…funny how everyone seems to disappear on secret missions when the water starts to run in the sink!  What if Lent is supposed to be less about what I do and more about what I let him do?  It kept my mind racing all the way up to the last dirty pan.  I suppose he’s trying to tell me something.  I suppose he’s trying to tell me to shut up and see what he wants to do in my life instead of trying to orchestrate the perfect 6 weeks.  Ok, so what if YES and COOPERATE became my theme for lent…then what?  That was really a question I asked him to answer for me.

This weekend we went to see the movie “The Shack”.  I didn’t go expecting rock solid Theology, I went expecting to be inspired and uplifted.  I went expecting to be reminded in a beautiful and entertaining way of some of God’s simple truths.  I knew the story line…I was going for the effect.  As with everything else these days social media seems to beat stuff to death with opinions and perspectives…I didn’t really care about the reviews, I just wanted to be entertained.  The movie delivered exactly what I hoped for!  The scenery in the movie was breathtaking and the message was simple and good medicine for a wounded world.  Driving home from the theater in a quiet car I realized YES and COOPERATE were words that truly were important for me this Lenten Season.

God’s love for us is bigger that I can wrap my mind around…perhaps I should spend some time pondering that this Lent.  If I look at at the nuttiest times in my life, I recognize that I didn’t have my eyes on him…I should work on my focus this Lent.  God can bring unspeakable good out of the most horrible situations…I’ve seen that more times than I can count…I should revel in that and thank him  dozens of times a day for it this Lent. The beauty of heaven is far greater than the most magnificent thing I’ve ever seen on earth…I should get my heart in order this Lent so as to enjoy that beauty someday.  There is no promise of a pain free life…I should learn to stop pouting about that this Lent and accept each situation as an opportunity to suffer a little bit and grow closer to him.  The movie had lots of great nuggets for thought.

Taste and see…I suppose in order to do that, I need to let someone else do the cooking and stop trying to be in charge of the kitchen all the time.  So this Lent, I’ll work on saying YES to the Father and ask him for the grace to COOPERATE instead of orchestrate myself.

A Seed To Plant: Now that you’ve made a list of things you’d like to do this Lent, make a list of the things you’re willing to let him do so you truly can taste and see his goodness.​

Blessings on your day!