Windows Wide Open
There
are at least two landmark “breathe deeply” moments each spring. The first is that very first day when you
step outside and instead of thrusting your hands deeper into your coat pockets
and checking to see if you can pull the zipper any higher, you relax, turn your
face to the warming sunshine and breathe deep.
You suddenly become aware that the birds are singing and you can’t help
but smile. The second moment comes on
the first day when you open the windows of the house and feel that warm, fresh
breeze as it readily accepts the invitation to dance with the curtains.
Lent
is a special time when the Church goes out of its way to extend the invitation
to throw open the windows to your heart and to your soul and invite the breeze
from the breath of the Holy Spirit to come dance with your soul. It is meant to be a season of renewal.
Many
churches, including mine, have been offering a number of special opportunities
for spiritual renewal. Back on Ash
Wednesday the Lenten season may have seemed long with plenty of options. Now however, Lent is drawing maybe all too
quickly to its end if you have been unable to move past the desire for greater
holiness and take any deliberate steps in that direction. So, what if it is now just occurring to you
that you really haven’t taken advantage of Lent to renew your soul, to renew
your relationship with God? You meant
to, but time got the best of you, or perhaps you weren’t spiritually ready, or
perhaps you are unsure, or afraid? Have
you missed out?
The
most important thing to know is that there is no time limit on God’s mercy or
God’s desire for a deeper, more intimate relationship with you. As we will soon read in the Passion, the
repentant thief was assured just moments from his death that he would be with
Jesus in Paradise. With God’s heart the
windows are always wide open, the fresh breezes of new springtime always blow. He is not merely looking out waiting to see if anyone
comes home; he is waiting specifically for you.
Why not now?
“Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago
consider not; see, I am doing something new!
Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:18-19
His
Peace <><
Deacon
Dan
Photo by Alistair MacRobert on Unsplash
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