See these two pictures?

I was on my balcony a couple of summers ago and saw these garage gutters sprouting—bursting—with new life!

It was so unexpected; I just had to laugh and tip my metaphorical hat. I couldn’t report it to maintenance, I just appreciated it. If it is that resilient, I would leave it alone. Let it live! I thought there must be some spiritual lesson, so I took a couple of pictures. They have been in my photos ever since.

What might this have to do with Lent?

Last Wednesday we entered the penitential season of Lent, the forty-days leading up to Easter. We gathered on Ash Wednesday and received the ashen mark of the cross on our foreheads and were reminded that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.

As part of the season, we are invited to engage in a spiritual discipline that will help us purify and strengthen ourselves so that we turn from our old life and become ready to receive the gift of new life we have in Jesus Christ. We may eliminate the vices in our lives, choosing to abstain from one or more of them. The idea is that the Holy Spirit works through these efforts to help us grow new life.

Lent was once designed to be a time of total conversion. In the fourth century, it was for people on the margins of the church to undergo a time of intense instruction in the faith and to turn from their lives of apostasy to enter the waters of baptism. In the darkness of the Easter Vigil, they would physically turn from facing west to facing east, darkness to light, from Satan to Christ.

Today, Lent is more of a time that people in the faith exercise their spiritual muscles. It may be a time of significant spiritual conversion for you, and if so, that is wonderful! Maybe there will be a big shift in your faith life!

For some of us, it may come down to smaller shifts. Lent isn’t about a time of conversion, but incremental growth or even unexpected growth. Sometimes in our disciplines we may not see what difference a small change will make. Foregoing chocolate or daily reading a chapter of the Bible may not seem like it might yield huge spiritual benefits, but just remember that if these plants can grow, then the Holy Spirit may be doing something unexpected in you too!