Lent is traditionally a time when believers purposely go into the “desert” to contemplate Christ’s suffering and to hear God’s still, small voice more effectively.
Although I don't love to suffer – in even small ways – God uses Lent to teach me that the desert has a beauty all its own. That’s because God values the sacrifices of His children. Not that he takes pleasure in our pain, but He uses lack to refine us and draw us closer to Him so that later we can know joy on a deeper level, beyond what our five senses can discern.
Of course, we’re not meant to live forever in the season of Lent. We know, with confidence, that after Christ’s suffering and sacrifice, Easter morning came. Lent is a season set aside to remind us that we are still inhabitants of the "Shadowlands" as C.S. Lewis called them.
We are not in heaven, and we have work to do. Though we experience great beauty and deep joy in this life, nothing fully satisfies us like God's plan that's waiting for us in the fullness of time.
Be encouraged. God is near.
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