A new approach

Forty days are upon us; a time for introspection, a time for fasting, a time of acknowledgement. Forty days have arrived and here we stand, prepared for sacrifice, prepared to mirror the steps of Christ, to set aside that which distracts, that which steels our attention for a moment of stillness, a moment of introspection, a moment of gratitude.  Within these forty days we make promises, sometimes kept m, sometimes forgotten; we abstain from  that which we are drawn to in an effort to practice sacrifice. Christ died on the cross for us, His actions spoke of forgiveness and compassion, His death is our life and still we have forgotten. We have forgotten the depth of His love for us; we have forgotten His sacrifice and its truest of meanings; we have forgotten the reason for Lent is not the forgoing of our favorite things but rather Lent is love.  What if we woke up each morning, looked into the mirror and said, “I am deeply loved”.  What difference would that make in our lives?  How would our attitudes changes?  How would the effect our treatment of others?  We have a lifetime but more specifically, we have this forty days to reveal the depths of the Father’s love for us.  We are love.  Wake up each morning this Lenten season and look into our souls, look deep, feel deeply for the Father is speaking, He is telling us of His love.  Love which comes without condition, love which needs only acceptance, love which is the essence of our beings.  Such love exists within our being, it fears not the rituals of humanity for it is linked to the Father; His breath our breath.  With each breath taken we begin to feel such love, we begin to epitomize such love as we look at each moment as an opportunity to unveil love as the Father intended; pure, holy and humble. This Lenten season will begin like any other, yet let us take a slightly different approach, instead of abstaining, how about we live love?  How about be become love?  How about every interaction we leave with others love?  Each morning, when we wake, we need to take a moment to see such love thriving within us; burning with desires to act upon such love; hoping to become the selfless love demonstrated by Christ in the cross. With arms outstretched, He gave us Himself, gave to us His love...humbly acting as a servant, giving to all those who would listen, Himself, His love. Listen, we need to listen for as our imperfections speak they tend to sway our understanding of love, of the Father’s unconditional love to the point by which we no longer hear.  We hear not the Father’s voice whispering our name, we see not the love represented by the cross, we feel the the presence of the Spirit acting as our protector and guide. Swayed by countless distractions, we soon convince ourselves that we are unworthy of His love, unworthy of His sacrifice, unworthy of the truth of our person, the truth of His love. Worthy we are of His love for in His image He formed us and in His likeness we have the ability to give to others His unconditional love. To give, we must first have; to love, we must first accept the Father’s love for then, and only then, can we sow His love. Worthy of His love, on bended knee we take a moment to hear, to see, to feel His love and accept that our imperfections make us worthy of such perfect love. This Lenten morning, accept a challenge to find self love, not vanity, not egotism, but rather selfless love, pure love, perfect love which the Father offers to us, His children. This the first of forty mornings where we will stand looking into our soul, accepting His love, accepting our worthiness of His love. In the silence we will hear, we will see, we will feel His love. Forty days, forty opportunities to capture His love and express it as our own. Forty days for the soul to look back and say, “You are loved” to a captive audience. We are the audience ready to hear, ready to see, ready to feel His love. Forty days begins today, look within...love is who we are, love is what we will accept, unconditional love our reward with each morning we spend humbly accepting the Father’s offering of love through our enlightened silence moments.