Beginning a Lenten Journey - Why?

This morning marks the beginning of Lent, 2017.

I don't celebrate Lent in the traditional sense.
If I did, I'd have been at an early morning church service, hearing a message that wove around the truth that I once "came from dust, and to dust I will return."
Palm Sunday crosses from 2016 would have been burned, and the ash used to mark my head with a cross.

It's purpose would serve to remind me that I live daily "under the shadow of the cross."
As a little girl, I went to school every "Ash Wednesday" with an ash cross etched on my forehead.

Nobody laughed.
I was not mocked.
No one told me that I was infringing on their personal religious space.
I wasn't criticized for pushing my own religious beliefs.
It was what it was.

HOWEVER, I wonder if that would be the case today?

As an adult, living in the US, in the 21st century, divisiveness reigns across the board. It's not just political (as I was severely reminded last evening when the President gave his first speech on Capital Hill).
"Divisive" hits us all with practically every choice we make.
I find my self very cautious in conversation, because I don't want to make divisive waves.
I don't have the energy for it.
However, I don't have the energy for always trying to live in the neutral, people-pleasing zone, either.
Besides - the Lord told us through the Apostle Paul, that's not the way to live:

As I ponder this dilemma, I picture us all living in little individual circles of belief, political ideology, and life-choices.
We're all a bunch of small islands that seldom connect or over-lap.

And, I think to myself...there has to be a better way!

As we begin Lent, of course, the question that pops into my head is one that has certainly become cliche: "What would Jesus do?"

Then another followed, "If I'm to live daily as under the shadow of the cross, how would I, then, live?"
"What if I had a visible ash-cross on my forehead every day of my life?"

A cross on my forehead is a telling statement that I am a Christ-follower.
That ought to dictate my behavior, yes?
I'd be more aware that people were watching.
How would I respond and would they KNOW that Jesus is the love-of-my-life?

And...that is the answer to my question.
The "better way" is to walk in such a way that the world I intersect with knows that Jesus is my first love.
Instead of individual islands...
We become intersecting congruent circles, living in the Place of the Middle-Ground.

A place reserved for Jesus-acts of Love and Generosity.


This is the biggest reminder of the Lent-Journey.

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I'm taking a break from the "ziqna and seba" study, to look a little more closely at this whole realm of thinking over Lent. I'll post a bit more often throughout Lent. Hopefully, short and sweet. (Smile) You're invited to join my Lenten journey.