Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of our forty day journey with Jesus in the desert. When I was a boy the only thing I thought of on this day was that now on Friday's we would be having fish for dinner. Fish normally consisted of either Mom's Tuna Fish Salad or the dreaded fish sticks. Some days during Lent we got a double whammy, at school we would be given fish sticks for lunch with a dry lump of U.S. Government cheese, coleslaw and a cup with a peach in heavy syrup in a cup. There was a reason God made fish the way He did, you know, fish shaped, that was to remind you that fish were meant to fish shaped and should be eaten fresh and never carved into sticks. But that's in the past and today I never have to eat fish sticks. Not eating meat on Friday was really ingrained into us those days. One year my father took us to see the Chicago Auto Show on a Lenten Friday. We stopped for a snack and he bought me a hot dog. I had taken a bite of it and before I could swallow it he mentioned that it was Friday. It meant nothing to him, he did not follow the faith even though he was a baptized Catholic. I excused myself and spat the mouthful of David Berg Kosher hot dog and bun into the garbage can and followed that up with by fling the reset of the hot dog. My father laughed at my antics and shook his head as he took a bite of his hot dog. By the end of the night I was a bit hungry and even a fish stick would have tasted good, everything tastes good when you season it with enough ketchup.
Our journey with Jesus is one that takes us into the desert. It is a time that we can spend reviewing our life, working out what we need to change to become ever better followers of Jesus. Why the desert? The desert is a place like no other. It is desolate, you can go a long time without seeing another person. The only sounds you will hear is the howl of the wind. You will be utterly alone without any distractions. There will be no one there to flatter you or criticize you. It will just be you. The solitude will allow you to focus on yourself and your relationship with God. That what Lent is all about. It would be a wrong to classify it merely as spring cleaning, because it it much more than that. The desert, a place where you can begin to see yourself as God sees you.
So as we step out of our comfort zone and begin to take some time to learn about ourselves and become closer to Christ let us resolve to make this Lenten journey the best one we have ever had.
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