As we continue our journey through Lent, we will now look at different ways holding the 40 days of reflection. We start with Elizabeth Hyndman, a Christian writer and editor who wrote, “There are three elements that are almost always part of Lent: prayer, giving something up, and giving something back."
Sadie Sieker, for many years served as a house-parent for the children of mission partners in the Philippines. Sadie loved books. Though she gladly loaned out some books, others she treasured in case under her bed. Once, in the quiet of the night, Sadie heard a faint gnawing sound. After searching all around her room, she discovered that the noise was coming from her beneath the bed in the case. When she opened it, she found nothing but an enormous pile of dust. All the books she had kept to herself had been lost to termites. The moral to this tale seems to say, “What we give away, we keep. What we hoard, we lose.”
The familiar words of Jesus in Mark 8:34–36 come to mind, “He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?”
Following Jesus means making choices and choices mean that we leave some possibilities behind even as we pick up new God-directed opportunities. As we deny ourselves this Lent, we ask Jesus to help us not to become regretful or nostalgic but to face the future confidently.
Eternal God, holy and faithful,
what can we give in return for our life?
Teach us to take up the cross of Christ
with grateful hearts and humble spirits,
offering all for the sake of the gospel,
so that we may receive life in fullness;
through Christ, who is coming in glory. Amen
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