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Weekly devotionals based on soul tending in the book of Psalms.

Processing God’s Promises – Psalm 4

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Sometimes I need to declare the truth of God’s word over myself. Actively reading, writing and intentionally taking God’s words into my mind and heart begins a conversation. Asking the Holy Spirit to guide me to the treasure that is hidden in plain sight, the truth that is contained in God’s words, and the applications he has for me today no matter what I face.

When my daughters were little my husband and I often tucked them into bed with prayers. One of our prayers was from Psalm 4’s final verse, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.” This declaration reminded us of God’s watchful protection and availability. Twenty years later, I can still hear a sleepy seven and ten-year-olds putting their hands together and saying this verse with me.

Psalm 4, like so many of the Psalms, takes the reader on a journey from recalling God’s faithfulness to reaching a place of complete surrender and certainty.

Psalm 4

1Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
    You have given me relief when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

Lord, I thank you that you hear me, and you are always available, day or night. You have helped me when I was afraid. You have overflowed with grace to me, and I really need that now. You have a proven track record and have never failed me.

2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
    How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? 

God, sometimes it feels as if those around me are mocking me and focused on revealing my faults and failures. As they continue to seek flattery and things that are not true, help me to refocus my attention on who you say I am.


3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.

Thank you that you have set me apart for your purposes. As I am walking in that, you are always close by my side and ready to hear my calls of confusion, distress or fear, and my cries for help.

4 Be angry, and do not sin;
    ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. 

Lord, please help me. When anger tries to rule my heart and lead me into temptation, guide me back to you. Please teach me how to hold my tongue. It is far too often the weapon that is used against me. Help me to practice the discipline of silence and rest.

5 Offer right sacrifices,
    and put your trust in the Lord.

Show me what is pleasing to you. Help me to give up and give away what is not needed, even when I think I want it. Even when I fear that if I let it go, I may regret it. You, alone can satisfy all my needs. Help me to put myself and those I love in your hands every minute of every day.

6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
    Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”

Help me to testify to your goodness. Help me to point others to all the ways you’re working and displaying masterpieces before our eyes. Help me to daily see your face.

7 You have put more joy in my heart
    than they have when their grain and wine abound.

While others may feast on food and wine, let me find all my soul sustaining satisfaction in you, alone. You are my abundant provider.

8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

As I lie down tonight to surrender to your care, help me to demonstrate to all around me, how amazing it is to trust you even in my slumber. Only you can truly keep me safe in this world and into the world to come, forever. 

Perhaps this soul tending practice might be something you might want to try? I would love to hear about what God reveals to you in this process. Let me know in the comments.

Is the Kingdom of God like a playground?

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Play is an act of self-abandonment: we stop taking ourselves so seriously and simply enjoy life. In one sense the kingdom of God is like a playground.

James Bryan Smith

I carefully climbed up the smooth concrete sides of the train. The steepness challenged me, but I persisted because I had gazed at this playground train for months while it was under construction. My five-year-old self perched very close to achieving my dream, but one more thing lay just inches from my grasp. The elusive chimney at the far end of the train must be inspected before I returned to the ground far below me. What was inside that chimney, enquiring minds had to know, or mine did anyway. Painstakingly I shimmied in a seated position forward along the top of the train. Inch by inch I felt bolder. Inch by inch I became certain of a positive outcome. Inch by inch I focused on reaching that brick chimney, so I could peer inside.. I would like to tell you about the sweet bird’s nest I saw or the family of magic elves that I discovered. What I came face to face with was… precisely nothing.

 The bell rung. I had to get in line to return to my classroom. The fear of my teacher’s punishment trumped my terror of falling. I had to find a way down. In quiet desperation I pushed off with my hands and slid down the rounded and very smooth side of the play structure so rapidly that I landed on my back in a heap.

Reaching up to touch the back of my head, I found the warm sticky evidence of blood. I wasn’t the only one to become aware of this because many of my young classmates were now expressing their concern with boisterous commentary and plenty of hand signals.

British people are known to be prepared for most emergencies with large white handkerchiefs, rolls of polo mints, and when these forms of first aid fail, a hot cup of tea. After applying the handkerchief to the back of my head, I was ushered in rapid fashion to the nurse’s office to seek more elaborate medical intervention.

What followed was a trip to the hospital, stitches and stern lectures from both my mother and my father. “What were you doing climbing up there? “You must be more careful.” And what I took away was:

  • playing and exploring is dangerous
  • avoid any risks
  • you are weak and fragile

While reading The Good and Beautiful Life, author James Bryan Smith assigns readers an exercise to go and play. “Play is a spiritual exercise that can teach us about living in the Kingdom of God.” He goes on to explain, “God wants us to be full of joy, and play is a way to experience the goodness of God and the richness of life.” This challenge led me on a journey to discover why I had lost touch with play on a playground at five years old. Years later as a young mother, I struggled to play with my children when they were little. There always seemed much more important things to do. As I have a third pass through the playground as a grandmother to a toddler, I wonder if I can find my way back to the joy of play? Can I, in the words of Smith, “train my body to live with genuine excitement” by finding my way back to fully experiencing the kingdom of God? Is there a way for me to regain my ability to play?

How about you? Do you find ways to play? How is the Kingdom of God like a playground? Is playing a good way to practice tending your soul?

Yes Day

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Summer evenings on holiday always seemed so magical to me as a little girl. Walking beside my grandmother I clutched the most glorious cone of ice-cream, vanilla goodness. Somehow my tongue nudged the orb of goodness to the edge of the cone, and it rolled right off and onto the sidewalk below. We stopped and stared down. Tears sprung to my eyes. I kept my head down fully expecting a harsh correction.

“Let’s nip back and get another one.”

I looked back up to find my grandmother’s smile. My Granny, Ivy Lindsey, was my yes person. When so many others in my life reinforced rules and structure, my grandmother was a free spirit who served breakfast for dinner, took me to the penny arcade for an afternoon of fun, and even allowed me to visit the tide pools at twilight on the beach near where she lived.

I probably didn’t always receive a yes to all my requests when spending time with my grandmother, but I do remember the week I spent staying at her house was always full of fun and adventure. Days spent with my grandmother, were yes days.

“Yes Day” is a fun, family-friendly movie based on the premise, what would happen if parents gave their kids one day where they get to do whatever they want.

Is an all-access pass to all the fun they could possibly have achievable? What could go wrong? What could go right?

This movie sets out to prove that we could all use a yes day … parents, kids, everyone.

However, my question is, do I say yes to God? What would a Yes Day with God look like?

20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Corinthian 1:20-22)

God will give me all I will ever need for anything he may call me to do. I can say yes, to God knowing that he will be the enabler based on this truth. According to these verses I am established with Christ, anointed, sealed and given the Holy Spirit as a guarantee.

John Piper explains Paul’s words,

If you belong to Christ by faith, then everything God could possibly give you for your good he has signed over to your account in Christ. You hear the same answer at every point: Is this promise in my account? Yes. Is this promise in my account? Yes. Is this blessing in my account? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All the promises of God are YES in Christ.

Ultimately this means that I can trust God to provide for all He calls me to do. So I can with confidence say yes.

 What would a yes day look like with God?

  • Getting up early enough to really spend unhurried time in God’s word hearing his voice in the Bible verses.
  • Following the prompts of the Holy Spirit to check on that friend, even when I don’t feel I have time or energy?
  • Being brave and pushing past fear to learn something new that God has been challenging me to do.
  • Crying out to God to help me forgive some hurts I’ve been carrying around far too long.
  • Setting aside thirty minutes of silence to listen to what God would like to tell me when I finally sit down and really wait on him and be still on the outside and the inside.

How about you? What would your Yes Day look like?

Leaving Well

/ Anthea Kotlan / 2 Comments

On one of those brilliant blue-sky days in early December, I stopped by to see my sister on my way back home. This would be our final conversation, as she unexpectedly died a few days later. I have often revisited that day and gone over every word that was said. I remember her insistent generosity of giving me large bags of baby clothes, even though I was neither pregnant, nor thought I might ever be. All the while holding her five-month-old daughter and keeping an eye on her active toddler. Her multi-tasking was impressive.

Over cups of tea in her kitchen, we talked about her recent reconciliation with my father. They had experienced a really hard season, but just days earlier my father had sent her flowers for Thanksgiving. This gesture was greeted by my sister’s grace and certain steely determination, “I’ll do anything to make sure my kids have a good relationship with him.”

Finally, I said goodbye and headed out the door. After backing down the driveway, I had turned my car around at the end of the cull de sac. As I passed her house, I saw her and the children outside on the driveway waving away to me as if I was setting sail on the Queen Mary for a transatlantic holiday. It struck me as so special that she came back outside to say goodbye again. To this day, I can still see them there.

On Maundy Thursday, we find Jesus gathering his disciples for the Passover Meal, and he begins by washing their feet in demonstration of humility. Jesus knew he had only a little more time left, and yet he chose to sit down and break bread with all of his disciples. Those who loved him, those who would deny him and even the one who would betray him sat around that table. Jesus gave his followers a mandate (hence the name, Maundy Thursday) to love one another with both words and actions (John 13:34). He modeled abundant love for others that was intentional, sacrificial, and generous.

Lord, help me to follow Jesus’ mandate to love generously and sacrificially. Help me to take no opportunity for granted that you give me in this life.

Does Compassion Trump Fairness?

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“That’s not fair.”

These words came out of my mouth so many times as a child. I was an early adopter of the pursuit of justice. Even at seven, I was defending children on the playground regarding racial inequality. Sure, my defense was weak and included name calling, but in my mind, it aligned with my life-long pursuit of making things right and fair.

As a teenager, hearing the words of evangelist, Billy Graham in a Houston stadium drew me to Jesus. Graham was talking about moral absolutes, and how in Jesus, things would be made right. I could be reconciled and made right with God. I had a gaping hole in my soul that cried out for justice, and at last the answer came. The Bible contained true guidance. However, justice can only be accomplished by Jesus’ work on the cross that reconciled me with God. During this period the Lord generously provided a continuous chain of women who discipled me. I look back now in awe of God’s consistent compassion.

Based on all the compassion God has provided for me, I am required to respond to a watching world around me with a similar kindness and generosity in my daily life. Jesus demonstrates compassion for all. He brought the kingdom of Heaven to earth. During Jesus’ ministry, he often pointed to examples of the kingdom of heaven breaking out in the regular every day.

In Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus tells his followers the story or parable of a compassionate employer. Have you heard this story before?  It is often known as the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Most readers focus on the workers and wage inequality. This vineyard owner hires various workers at staggered times throughout the day, so some work much more than others. However, at the end of the day they are all paid the same.

Dr. Kenneth E. Bailey explains that, the true emphasis in this story is a demonstration of an employer’s compassion and concern. Is it fair to be paid for a full day’s work with a full day’s wage? Yes. Could it also be a demonstration of compassion when the owner of the vineyard decides to treat each worker with respect by paying all them, even those who didn’t work all day, the same amount of money? This parable showcases an owner who demonstrates compassion for the unemployed by going back the marketplace five different times and offers work to those who need it. He gives each worker dignity by employing all of them. (Bailey p. 357)

Jesus teaches that compassion trumps any notion of fairness I might have. Is it fair for a sinner like me to be saved by grace? Is it fair that I still fail and sin and do things that displease God, and yet I am secure in my salvation? Not because of my efforts, but because of Jesus’ atonement for my sins, once and for all.

This Lent, I must seek opportunities to focus on compassion, and not my endless pursuit for fairness. What vineyards has God entrusted to me? The vineyards of family, writing, and women’s ministry. Who will I partner with in those vineyards? How will I serve others in those vineyards? What will those vineyards produce?

This week’s soul tending challenge is to practice compassion when it’s not my first inclination. How about you? How will you steward the vineyard God entrusted to you? How will you demonstrate compassion? Sometimes the person we most need to treat with compassion, can even be ourselves.

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels by Kenneth Bailey

An Encourager

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Joseph and Mary have come to the Temple to present Jesus and to make a sacrifice according the requirements of the law. In the midst of the crowds, they encounter Simeon. This elderly, fragile man is blind, but he immediately recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah. Simeon had much to say about Jesus, but then he turns specifically toward Mary and says,

34  “…Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:34-35)

  •  appointed for the fall and rising of many
  • a sign that will be opposed
  • a sword that will pierce Mary’s soul

These are not warnings any mother hopes to hear about her newborn. Mary knew that Jesus was to be the future king, but can you imagine her response to these proclamations? Perhaps she felt fear? Anxiety? Scripture tells us that at that very hour, a second prophet enters the scene, Anna.

36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.[f] She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:36-38 ESV)

The Bible only features nine female prophets, and Anna is the only named prophetess in the New Testament. (*See note below for a list of the female prophets in the Bible.) So, we know she is special and has been placed in Mary’s path for a reason. It as if God might have sent Anna as an encourager. She, like Simeon, recognizes Jesus immediately. While we don’t know exactly what Anna said to Mary, we know she gave thanks to God and acknowledged the Messiah.

This is Anna’s moment to shine a light in a dark time of Roman oppression. She has been waiting her whole life at this assigned place. Anna, an elderly widow, has not abandoned the Temple for decades. How has this widow spent her waiting time? Worshiping, praying and fasting all day and all night. Her focus has been on God, and in this moment her proclamation of thanksgiving is not only for Mary, but for all who wait in the agony under Roman opposition for the redemption of Israel. Because Anna has been so singularly focused on God for so long, it is easy for her to recognize God’s representative when he arrives in the Temple that day, even as a tiny helpless infant.

Finally, it is interesting to note Anna’s reaction.

And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:38)

Her thanksgiving shifts almost immediately to evangelism. She is speaking of Jesus to all who are waiting because her encounter with Christ fills her with a desire to tell everyone the good news.

Lord, far too often I am hesitant to speak of you to others who might not know you. Could they be waiting for redemption? Give me a grateful heart, like Anna that can’t help but overflow with a desire to love others by telling them about you.

*The others are Miriam, the sister of Moses (Exodus 15:20); Deborah, the judge (Judges 4:4); Huldah, the wife of Shallum (2 Chronicles 34:22); Isaiah’s wife (Isaiah 8:3); and Philip’s four unmarried daughters (Acts21:9). (GotQuestions.org)

Search Me, O God – Psalm 139

/ Anthea Kotlan / 3 Comments

Some years the season of Lent can feel chaotic. In contrast, this season is designed to be a time of spiritual renewal and contemplation. Since life may throw me endless curve balls, disruptions, and changes, sometimes I need to push a pause button and take a moment to practice a spiritual discipline known as self-examen.

It is the practice of setting aside time alone with the Lord and seeking the Holy Spirit to check on my spiritual health. I decided to use Psalm 139 as a map to guide me and travel through each verse, stopping to ask these questions. These questions, created by author Ruth Haley Barton, can serve as a prayer guide that allows me to take each verse and see what God had for me there.

Self-Examen Questions

  • Adoration, what is a way I could praise and adore God for the quality in this verse?
  • Confession, what is something I need to ask God for forgiveness regarding this verse? Has God used his word to illuminate a sin?
  • Thanksgiving– what do I need to give thanks for God in this verse?
  • Supplication -what does this verse bring to mind that I need to pray about?
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!
(Psalm 139:1-24 ESV)

Prayer

Lord, would you use this practice of self-examine to “search me, O God, and know my heart.” I am easily fooled and distracted. Please send a fresh wave of your Holy Spirit to guide me. Lord, “try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!” Lord, fill my mind with your truth and your guidance. Please help me to glorify you. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

I want to thank Ruth Haley Barton for her suggestion of using this Psalm for this practice of self-examination. Check out her brilliant work on spiritual disciplines.

(Barton, Ruth Haley. Sacred Rhythms. IVP, 2006)

I would love to hear how God spoke to you through your self-examen. What did you find in Psalm 139, and what did God find in you?

*Lent falls at different points on the church calendar each year but lasts for the 40 days leading up to Easter. This year Lent 2023 begins on February 22nd. This season can invite us to take a spiritual inventory and consider taking on and giving up certain practices to make more room for Jesus in our lives.

Certainty

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How I love certainty! Predictable rhythms bring calm to my soul.

My granddaughter has a toy that has three weighted balls in different colors. Once they are set into the entry point at the top of a tower, they run along various angled shoots in a downward pattern. One ball contains a silver disc that spins as the ball moves down, and I confess it is mesmerizing to watch. There is something beautifully predictable about inserting the balls in the top of this contraption and watching as gravity takes each ball back down to the base. I sit beside her on the floor equally captivated by the soothing repetition. All human beings are drawn to predictable outcomes and the sense of control that comes with that.

Like most people, the level of predictability in my life has been at an all-time low for over a year. The passing of my father, welcoming my second grandchild, hosting my daughter’s wedding, and my own diagnosis of Covid have taken a toll on me. Then came a Southeast Texas winter storm that sealed the deal on bringing everything to a screaming halt. We know about category five hurricanes. However, frozen precipitation and single digit temperatures reminded me about how dependent I am on modern conveniences. Our power grid collapsed under the demand created, and our water systems failed.

What do I know is true in the midst of being unable to predict what will come next?

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 (Romans 8:38-39 ESV)

Paul’s list of challenges that will come my way features all the things I find so difficult. But today this phrase jumps off the page:

“Neither things present nor things to come…”

Sometimes it is my own agonizing perception of my present circumstances or my anxious anticipation of my future that disrupts my peace on a regular basis. How often in my head have I made myself miserable by predicting outcomes that did not even come to pass? I am gifted and talented in the area of apocalyptic thinking.

However, the guarantee of God’s promises is and not limited by my own understanding or dire predictions.  Paul tells us that there are no qualifiers in God’s promises. No loopholes exist that allow God to get off the hook. He comes through every time and he does not leave my side. Even when I don’t feel it. Jesus’ death on the cross conquered it all, once and for all. Uncertainty will continue to be my companion on life’s journey. The certainty of God’s presence does not end.

Lord, please draw my heart ever closer to dependence on you alone. Help me fast from the need to know about what’s next. Help me to trust that you will always provide all I need. In Jesus name, Amen.  

How do you feel about certainty?

Could Fallow Ground be Hallowed Ground?

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All a poor man’s brothers hate him;
    how much more do his friends go far from him!
He pursues them with words, but does not have them.
Whoever gets sense loves his own soul;
    he who keeps understanding will discover good. (Proverbs 19:7-8 ESV)

Observations:

  • Any kind of poverty (lack of wealth, health, relationships, influence) can lead to feelings of isolation
  • Sometimes family and friends withdraw from a person who lacks resources
  • Even the person’s words don’t draw people back to his or her side.
  • A person must seek sense or wisdom in order to take good care of his/her own soul

As an introvert I enjoy time alone, but I don’t want to feel lonely. I thrive in the quiet.  A longing for time set aside and tucked away in solitude interrupts my days from time to time. However, a lack of relationships, resources, health, or influence can make my heart ache. In seasons of lack, friends and family might keep their distance because standing next to suffering may feel difficult.

Sometimes God uses isolation to help me see what I am lacking in my spiritual life. He might even allow friends and family to pull away from me. Chasing them down with the chatter of my own voice will only lead to greater frustration.

How does a farmer restore his fields? A fallow field is land that a farmer plows but does not cultivate for one or more seasons to allow the field to become more fertile. A time of setting aside makes room for restoration.

Isolation, or a season of being fallow, can be an invitation for me to seek Godly wisdom and spend more time in God’s word. I draw nearer because God has cleared my calendar, my to do list, my ability to keep running around. In those still and quiet moments, I will discover what is truly good.

Prayer

Lord, in the seasons of isolation or lack, let me seek you first to refill me. Help me depend only on you. Cause me to give thanks for the fallow seasons because in these times you are preparing for a bountiful harvest. I will draw near and seek your goodness for me, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

How has God used a fallow season in your life? I’d love to hear more.

Anthea

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

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For Mother’s Day last year, I asked for a lemon tree, and my family blessed me with two tiny Meyer Lemon trees. My husband helped me plant each one in a sunny location in our garden, and at once I fancied myself a lemon farmer. However, my trees were small, a little frail and the expected crop of lemons did not come forth. Rather than gorgeous fruit, at around the six-month mark, I spotted evidence of a pest that was systematically dining on the tender leaves and blossoms. Google revealed a plan of action that involved the daily application of a particular oil to each trees’ leaves. This oil must be sprayed on both sides of every single leaf on the tree in order to cause the tiny pests to evacuate. This application must be consistent over the course of about three weeks. Then a weekly maintenance schedule would need to be kept. The Fall season of gardening for me featured many interruptions, and my attempt to eradicate the lemon tree infestation failed miserably. While I managed to beat back the tiny, annoying leaf destroying army, I never actually prevailed. I lacked consistency and focus.

In the middle of January, I attempted a second three-week campaign against the pests that intended to rob me of my Spring lemon crop. Progress was made; however, a Covid-19 diagnosis around day ten of the regimen sidelined my assault for a few days. The eve of Valentine’s Day weekend brought dire warnings from the local weatherman who gleefully predicted single digit temperatures for my tropical area of Texas, just North of Houston. Google warned me that the Meyer Lemon variety in particular do not survive temperatures below 32, so single digits for three days in a row would surely destroy my twin lemon trees. My lemon trees were facing certain peril, and I did not know what to do.

Lent is an open invitation extended to all believers, and this year it begins on Wednesday, February 17th. It’s a forty-day opportunity to draw closer to God and remove things and activities that distract me from putting Him first in my life. Lent is not only about giving up, but it can also be about embracing new disciplines or practices that might help me to grow spiritually. It is in fact a soul tending activity, requiring consistency and focus, that provides a necessary reset. All Christians continually need to renew our repentance and faith. (ACNA BCP 2019 p. 543)

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Begin as you mean to go on, and go on as you began, and let the Lord be all in all to you.” This is how I must approach Lent this year. I must be intentional in preparing myself and considering what I need to take on and give up in this season. I must begin as I mean to go on. Just like my lemon trees, my soul is in need of intensive, continual care in order to grow.

If I am able to attend an Ash Wednesday service, the priest will say to me, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” I need to be reminded. The smudged cross on my forehead will be an outward and visible sign proclaiming an invitation to a Holy Lent that is extended to all of God’s people in this bleak midwinter.

As for those twin lemon trees, my husband carefully dug them up before the artic plunge, and we brought them inside planted in pots. It will be a bit of a shock for them to be moved; however, having them parked in my living room will surely help me as I try round three of eradicating those tiny leaf munchers. For these lemon trees, intentional care for them could help them survive and even thrive in the midst the polar plunge of 2021.

How will I in turn practice soul care for myself in this season? Am I willing to practice Lent and spend a time of self-examination, repentance, prayer, fasting and almsgiving this year? (ACNA BCP 2019 p. 544) Because I need an intentionally set aside time to prepare for Resurrection Sunday, also known as Easter, on Sunday, April 4th. Just like my little lemon trees, my soul needs daily care. Perhaps, Lent could prove an ideal reset?

Update

I won’t be able to attend a traditional Ash Wednesday service today because my church has had to cancel all services due to unsafe icy road conditions. Our church will offer ash distribution on Sunday when temperatures will rise above freezing. Prayers would be so appreciated for all of us, as many are still without power and water in my area.

“The Book of Common Prayer 2019,” Anglican Church in North America