Lenten Season 2011 - The Invitation

Well, writing once a week was wishful thinking! That idea flew out the window along with 2010! My last entry was in December, 2009! We'll jump over and land in March of 2011... perhaps at some point I'll share the story that is 2010, but not right now.

Right now, I'm more interested in Lent. In this season more so than in any other Lenten season or anytime in the last year, for that matter, I feel a beckoning to "come back", to remember, to purge, to identify with Christ, to be less mine and more His.

I can sense the powerful invitation He's making. I don't know how He does it... call out in the midst of the haze, be Light in the midst of the fog, a reference point in the midst of the maze, finding me in my sometimes apathetic lifestyle, as if you were just meandering, looking down at the ground as you shuffled along and then all of a sudden you can sense, see, hear something drawing you in and you are compelled to respond, even when you don't know how.

It's almost as if the very ignorance of not knowing how to respond feeds the desperation and gives greater hunger to the desire to respond to Him, to seek Him out, to know Him more. He's saying He wants to be found and is making the invitation very plain and the desire of His heart tangible. Ultimately, far from cliché, that desire is relationship.

So, as part of giving somethings up and taking on some disciplines for Lent, I will write some personally pertinent ideas in my Lenten journey here. I'm praying for breakthrough, to be fully Christ's and fully me. To identify with Christ in His freedom, passion, joy, compassion, confidence and power but also walk the road of knowing His pain and suffering to a greater extent - the two go hand in hand. I can't do one without the other. I can no longer not know, it's time to grow up a little bit more, learn my Shepherds voice for real, embrace perfect love and let go of the fear of, "what it might mean to really know Him" (meaning what it will cost me).

Part of that process is to identify, acknowledge, confess, repent, ask for forgiveness and for mercy for those areas of my life which have yet to be surrendered and then, surrender them. It occurred to me that sometimes it is more convenient to resolve to defeat than to surrender as though it were a worthy excuse for not answering the invitation being made. It's not... it's laziness, apathy, fear... however you want to label it, it's not healthy and not getting me anywhere in fulfilling the dreams Papa God has had for me since the beginning.

So enough! I heard the phrase last week, "Your focus needs more focus" (from the new Karate Kid movie... not a bad movie by the way). So true! So may this Lenten season be just that... answering the call, RSVPing my presence to the encounter and growing up to be more and more like my "Big Brother" Jesus with the power of Holy Spirit to help me surrender it all.