Lent begins tomorrow with Ash Wednesday.

Forty Days to spend with Jesus in the wilderness. Time to be reordered to the meaning of life with Jesus.

I will take last year’s fronds from Palm Sunday and burn them this afternoon. All our praises become ashes. Our best intentions never work out as well as we hoped.

But this is no time for despair. There is hope in cleansing . . . in simplicity. We choose a less cluttered life for Lent, at least with respect to some particular way we purpose to seek God more clearly.

Lent is refreshing because we see that our lives are more than bread, our hopes more than power and control, and our God more than our selfish desires.

The blessing of Easter is not only the resurrection joy, but the realization that life can also be lived in the wilderness without despair. That we look forward to a specific and ultimate joy does not diminish or negate the daily joy of simplicity with Christ.

Jubilate Deo!