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I have to say I’m typically not a big crier. I have to admit I do cry at times but perhaps I’m often too stoic. I found myself a few nights ago just needing a good cry.

I thought of all the people struggling with loss and in deep grief. Then I thought of those who are homeless and/or hungry. And others with broken relationships that are breaking their heart. We are a broken and needy people.

It has been a particularly hard year for so many. 

Lent has started and I’m still deciding what I need to do to make me more mindful of Jesus sacrifice for me. I recently read this devotional from Paul Tripp, one of my favorite authors. I thought it was worth sharing some of his thoughts:

Mourning, though painful, does something wonderful to you. Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount that those who mourn are blessed. These sad realities that cause you to weep also cause you to cry out for the help, rescue, forgiveness, and deliverance of a Redeemer.

Jesus said that if you mourn, you will be comforted. He’s not talking about the comfort of elevated feelings. He’s talking about the comfort of the presence and grace of a Redeemer, who meets you in your mourning, hears your cries for help, comes to you in saving mercy, and wraps arms of eternal love around you.

It’s the comfort of knowing that you’re forgiven, being restored, now living in a reconciled relationship with the one who made you, and now living with your destiny secure.

So Lent  is a good time to reevaluate, recalculate and take a good look at our relationship with God and others. I’ve decided that life is too short to not keep short accounts with others.

What do you want this Lenten season to look like for you? Please share your thoughts. Is there something you’re giving up, something you want to start doing, or maybe a new attitude you want to have?

I would like us to encourage and inspire one another and perhaps even help keep us accountable.

I’ll go first: I want to be a better listener, to others and to God‘s voice. Per me that will mean making the time to make sure I sit and listen, especially to His voice.

– Pat Estes

Photo by Grant Whitty on Unsplash