So...this week has been a tough week for me as far as praying goes. My calendar has been full, my brain focused on lots of "stuff" to get done, and my heart kind of fuzzy. I guess it's been a real Lenten week - in the wilderness. A friend of mine summed it up this way (which really resonated with me, so I'm going to use her words):
As I laid in bed this morning thinking about how little I really did focus on last week’s prayer topic and thinking about the schedule I will have the next few days and for the next few weeks I felt Lent slipping away from me. God felt far away. I didn’t feel like praying – didn’t feel like praying for me or those I knew let alone for such all encompassing topics as the church or the world. God seemed silent. I felt like I hadn’t seen him much in my conversations or encounters lately and like I didn’t have the time to personally seek him out in my hectic travels… But, then I realized something… What I was feeling felt like it didn’t fit with Lent, but it was in fact the very essence of Lent. I had wanted Lent to be this journey of repairing brokenness, this journey of spending devoted time in prayer, this journey of sensing God’s presence and feeling close with him… but that’s not really Lent – Lent is wilderness – Lent is brokenness – Lent is loneliness – Lent is silence – Lent is God’s silence as well as mine. The Biblical story that Lent symbolizes is that of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness, the desert. It’s not a story of peace and tranquil quality time with God. It’s a story where the main character finds himself alone and lonely, without food and hungry – God is not around (at least not noticeably) instead there are temptations to face and Christ must cling to those words which God had spoken in the past because at the time God was silent.
Well said, Bethany...well said!
So the focus for this last week of our Lenten journey is the future. We've already looked at patterns within ourselves, patterns of confession, patterns of how we relate to our family, friends, and those who are "invisibles" or enemies. We've asked God to show us new patterns as we think about His Bride here in the US and give us new patterns of sight as we look at the rest of His world. So the question looming before us now is...how do we take these new patterns, new insights, new practices into the FUTURE and not fall back into old patterns?? Lent is not just about stopping or doing an activity for 40 days, but is about allowing God in that stopping or starting to change us and to live in that change into the future.
Praying Lent:
This week spend some time in quiet reflection over the past 5 weeks. What has God said to you? Where has He convicted you? Where has He given you a new pattern to live instead of an old? Then pray over all that and ask God to show you what this looks like into the future - His future. Pray for future generations of Christ followers. Pray for the future of the Church in the US and the world. Pray for future encounters with "invisibles" or family and friends. Pray for your future as you walk in relationship with God.
Living Lent:
For me, I am going to go photograph patterns this week. I want to use them as a prompt and reminder that God has new patterns of living for His people. I want to use them to pray and ask God what my part is in those patterns. I want to seek Him about taking my part of the pattern into the future. (If this exercise resonates with you, I'd love to see some of your images and perhaps insights from this week.)
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