Be prepared

The other evening we had a power cut. The electricity supply was cut off completely. Suddenly everything was darkness, the central heating shut down and, of course no power means no kettle so no cup of tea. Panic ensured for a while. Suddenly things were out of control. There was nothing we could do. Yet since my wife had prepared for such an eventuality it was not long before torches, battery lights and candles were found. Some measure of sanity returned. At least we could see.

We all need preparation for our spiritual life too.  Lent begins early this year; Ash Wednesday falls on March 1st.  During Lent some will undertake pilgrimages to a holy place.  They will prepare taking, amongst other things, bibles, spiritual books, prayers and intentions plus quantities of foot salve to ease the blisters. In the same way we must prepare for our Lenten journey. For most of us, I suspect it is more likely to be giving up something, perhaps sugar in tea or coffee or that tempting chocolate biscuit at 11am. That may not be as simple as it sounds, - tea without sugar tastes awful, to me anyway - it may require effort, commitment, a decision to take a certain course which will need preparation.  Then having made the decision to give something up, what are we going to do with the time saved by not finding the sugar bowl or queuing up to purchase those chocolate goodies? The answer must be to use that time to prepare, to use the time to deepen our relationship with God and to recommit ourselves to following Christ which is the aim and object of pilgrimage.

Now here’s a thought. Everyone says that they know the Easter story so why bother reading it again. But is that really so? Would we not learn something new by revisiting those events of 2000 years ago? There is absolutely no doubt that we will find something new in the Bible, something that hadn’t been obvious to us before. Perhaps more importantly we need to ask, what message in that story does God have for me today. It may well be different to the message God has for you. The only way to find out is to ask Him. “What are my spiritual needs?” Just ask Him, and wait quietly. Our ideas may not be what God wants so we will probably need to make that same simple prayer on more than one occasion. But God will tell us.
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As a result of Jennifer’s preparation, light was soon restored to us – material light, that is. Let our Lenten preparations restored spiritual light to us as well. Let us turn away from our sinfulness and recommit ourselves to following Christ. That will not be an easy course but then nothing worthwhile ever is easy. But we have God on our side to guard us, to guide us and to support us. Thanks be to God.