As with much of the change we face in life, the turning of seasons is a time that can either renew hope and expectation, or stir up a sense of loss of that which is passed.
While I often lament the end of autumn and entry into winter, I have nothing but joy as winter then turns to spring. Budding crocuses, snowdrops and daffodils that scatter fields, meadows and gardens draw my gaze. My sight turns towards beauty, and spring never fails to disappoint.
Entering this new season marks another change in the church calendar, as we turn our hearts and minds to contemplate the time of Lent. This time that calls us back to the moments of Jesus’ earthly ministry; this time that compels the turning of our hearts to reflect Christ’s own turning towards Jerusalem and events He knew awaited Him on that Calvary hill.
A time to gaze upon Jesus
It is a time so associated with fasting, but so often missing the mark in our culture, and satisfying our self-pride in achieving the ‘giving up’ of chocolate, sweets, or habits. But as we turn our hearts to reflect on Christ, so we see His perfect giving, His merciful surrendering and loving emptying of Himself to the Father’s will. We turn back to Christ’s denying of His very self, His fleshly needs during his 40 days in the wilderness to overcome sin and temptation on our behalf. He turns our gaze then ahead to the promise of the ultimate fulfilment of this victory over in His emptying of Himself on the cross.
This season is a time we can hear and respond to the call of God to turn our gaze more on Him, by looking to Jesus. A time we can take up a Lenten fast, and empty ourselves of our us, our own agenda, our preoccupation with our felt needs and desires. A time that God can use to make space in our hearts, in our minds for more of Him. A time that we encounter through the discipline of emptiness, the joy and abundant grace of being filled with thoughts, wonder and worship of God alone.
Meditating this Lent
We are created to think, to wonder and to imagine. All that attracts us, whether it's the blossoming of spring, or the anticipation of the end of a suffering, takes up our time and minds. And these can often be good things, but they are always intended as stopgaps, as signposts, temporary moments of reflections on the way to the ultimate destination of our hearts’ meditation… God Himself.
The beauty He pours into the world, the desire He instils in us to bid wintry seasons of despair and darkness away and gone, are all intended to lead us to meditate and turn our thoughts to Him. He is the beginning and end of all goodness, all beauty, all desires fulfilled, and He leads us throughout this journey by His Spirit at every moment.
Puritan Thomas Watson bids us meditate on God’s name to fill us up, to find time to be alone with God, lock ourselves away with Him and allow our thoughts to ‘get wings and with the birds of paradise fly up towards heaven. (The Great Gain of Godliness, p81)
Like many Puritans, Watson preached that time away from God, and a day spent without conversing with Him in our thoughts is a day wasted.
To meditate on heavenly realities and promises gives our hearts a flavour we want to experience more often and be satisfied by. Rather than being satisfied by the felt fleshly needs and quick fixes of sugar rushes, we have a hope we can be nourished and satisfied and delighted by true, lasting spiritual realities that we have in Christ alone. In this, we can suffer alongside Christ and His wilderness days, and fight against sin and temptation.
So as you walk along signs of spring this season, or seek to give up something for Lent, allow these to turn your gaze to Christ Himself who emptied Himself to the point not only of taking on human flesh, but to the cross and the giving of His very life.
As you meet Him in the Scriptures, seek to be filled by Spirit with love, wonder and worship of Jesus’ love for His people, for the words He spoke to them, that He speaks to you now through all your battles with sin, the flesh and the devil, through all your wonder and delight in this world, and surrender yourself to the only true and lasting good and beauty that your heart and soul are seeking.
