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LENT
Saturday, March 18
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"…From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. -John 6:60, 66, NIV
Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus' withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days.
The summer of 1999 felt like a time in the wilderness for me, and for my family. The very month that she turned two years old, my daughter Annabelle fell while trying to climb out of her crib for the first time. This moment in time began our journey through the wilderness.
Annabelle had broken her femur (thigh) bone from her hip all the way down to within an inch of her knee in a spiral shape. The break itself is one of the most painful, but the healing process is even more. After days in the hospital Annie was surgically placed in a body cast that started at her armpits and went to her toes on both legs.
A two year old does not have the cognitive reasoning skills to understand why she is being "locked up" in a cast, nor did she understand the enormous amount of pain she was in. Annabelle spent the greater part of a week thrashing about, fighting and resisting it, trying to get out of the body cast. Then suddenly she began to relax, to accept, even to enjoy the comfort the cast brought her. The body cast confined Annabelle, it constricted her, it ruled every moment of her life. Yet, she began to hold her cast dear and to cherish it.
Towards the end of her confinement, we began to prepare Annie for the removal of the cast. Each time we would mention the cast's removal she would get very upset and say, "Just leave it!" No amount of reasoning would coax her to rejoice in her future freedom. She had grown comfortable with her situation, even as uncomfortable as it physically was.
In observing this phenomenon, I reflected on how we adults can be so similar to a two year old that is comfortable with her body cast. We often are enslaved to behaviors that aren't appropriate for us. Temptations that at first were resisted, but eventually we gave in to them. Over time we began to embrace them as part of our lifestyle, no matter how confining they are. Then, when the Lord points out that a change needs to be made, that He can set us free... we say, "Just leave it!" Do you have an area in your life that has become a habit, a lifestyle, a routine, that the Lord is pointing to for a change? Are you like little Annabelle, content to be paralyzed by what you are embracing as comfort? Think about what Annie would have missed out on.... running, swinging, being a regular kid. She would have given that all up to stay in the cast. What are you giving up?
It is my prayer that you can take the time this Lent season to walk through the wilderness and search your heart for the changes that need to be made. The Lord is waiting to remove your body cast. Will you let him? Will you say it is too hard and walk away?
LeEtta Felter
Olathe, KS USA
Father,
What more must I learn? What more do I need to be aware of as I live my life of surrender to you? All that I am, all that I ever will be, take it, and make me better for the lessened load, or the new found freedom that its surrender to you brings. Help me as I allow you to take the hard things and replace them with what you have in store for me today, and for my tomorrows as well.
Amen
[Psalm 55] [Gen. 41:1-13] [ I Cor. 4:1-7] [Mark 2:23 - 3:6]
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Edited: Mar. 18, 9:40 a.m.
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