Lent Means Course Correction
As a Private Pilot, I have extra help with the notion of “I believe I can fly”. We had a single engine Cessna 182 – a sweet ride. We logged many hours flying across this great country.
Though I haven’t flown in a while, I remember some crucially important flight requirements that ensured landing where, and when, we intended. Wind speed and wind direction requires course corrections throughout the flight. A strong wind can take us off course. Constant “tweaking” is necessary. All it takes is to be off just a few degrees and we can end up in Timbuktu, instead of the intended destination. I speak from the experience I had on my first solo cross country flight! Yikes!
And isn’t that true in our own lives? Our emotions, our bodies, and our spirits may get off course by winds of doubt, unbelief, worry, concern, and negativism that we’ve let come in. Those winds may have come in by the company we keep, the food choices we’ve made, some unhealthy habits, some compromising of our ethics and integrity, or literally missing the mark. So……let’s do some tweaking and correct our course!
Today, the Lenten season begins — the 40 days that precedes the passion of Christ and Easter — the time we deliberately focus our attention on getting our hearts right. It is the perfect time to make course corrections, making the necessary adjustments to become fully devoted followers of Christ.
I will be serving communion tonight at church. I volunteered to do so. I want to be intentional in my journey of putting Christ first and being reminded of our Lord’s sacrifice for each one of us. Lent continues for 40 days (symbolic to the 40 days Jesus was in the wilderness) through Holy Thursday just before Easter.
It is the time of intentional laser focus on HIM and His love for us. It is about heart change — from “It’s all about me” to “It’s all about YOU, God!”
Typically, our thoughts are more on what our next meal will be, or the next TV show to watch, or the next assignment we’ll be on to, or the plans for the weekend or the next trip or vacation we’ll take. Many times, we simply go about our routines without giving God a second thought.
So, what if, for the next 40 days, we intentionally make course corrections to be less distracted from our relationship with God. To pray and study His Word more, to be kinder to those around us, to take walks to bask in God and His creation — just to get closer to Him in our thoughts and actions.
As we acknowledge the little things that distract us from God, we become more aware of the weight of His sacrifice for us. Then this Easter will be a REAL resurrection to celebrate — the resurrection from our OLD selves to our NEW selves in Him. Indeed “It’s all about You — not me, Lord!”
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10.