There is a very large Rubbermaid bin in our basement with every scrap of paper I ever wrote, read or collected in seminary. This treasure trove also holds papers from my first serious classes on the Bible. Classes I attended 14 years ago, long before seminary, when Daniel was just a baby. As a young mother I didn't know if I'd have the time to do all that was required for the classes. I had to read the scripture, read the lesson and memorize concepts. So much! Somehow the pastor convinced me that I could do it.
Recently, I discovered in this bin a prayer written by some anonymous classmate from my first bible class. In the prayer the author commented on the routine of life, fast moving and yet repetitive enough that sometimes you were in dismay - asking "What is the point of it all?" Then to add into your life time spent preparing for a Bible study. Well goodness - why bother? Yet the prayer's author went on to recognize that the act of preparing for class every week began to sneak into his or her life and suddenly "like Saul on the road to Damascus, the light bursts forth: ahh, so this is how it fits together."
Whether this is your first year reading the Lenten devotions or your fifteenth, whether you are struggling to fit in time for this devotion or it fits into your life like a dear friend, I hope that you have moments of clarity when "the light bursts forth" - moments when things fit together in new and meaningful ways.
Gracious and Loving God, thank you for these Lenten devotions, gifts to us from our brothers and sisters in Christ. May our times of reflection sneak into our lives until we have moments when the light bursts forth and we understand ourselves and you in new and wonderful ways. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Julie Madden
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