The season of Lent started on February 17th which was Ash Wednesday.  This season lasts forty-six days, if you count Sundays, until Easter.  Lent is a time of deep personal reflection.  It is a time to set aside a few minutes daily to check in with God.  For me it is a reminder that God and I are partners in daily living...I am not alone.

In scripture we are told that Jesus often went off alone to pray.  Can we make this our Lenten challenge?  It is putting away the cell phones, the computers, the iPods and going to a silent place.    Trying to be silent or to find a silent place to pray may be hard.  And most likely after two minutes of complete silence, we will be uncomfortable!

 A vision I have in my head is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  This is a Garden outside Jerusalem.  It is twilight and Jesus is sitting near a rock with his head looking upward and his hands folded.  It is silent and he talks with God about his life.  He asks God for strength and guidance in all that he is trying to do.  I would also imagine that he becomes very vulnerable, revealing to God his fears, his fatigue and his frustrations. Jesus is real.  He is not    saying what he thinks God wants to hear.  He is not in a hurry to get on with his next task.  He is not focused on where he is headed when he leaves the Garden.  Jesus is with God...present in the moment!

Jesus teaches us to pray through his own example.  We too need time to ask for strength and guidance in raising our families, in making moral choices, in developing personal relationships and in strengthening our faith.  We also need time with God to reveal our frustrations, our fatigue and our fears.  We need all that Jesus needed.  We need silent time to be with God in prayer.  I hope you will take on this challenge!