Letting Go of Lent, and Leaning in to this Brand New Life - aka Easter, and Carrying the Cross...

So I was going to sit down and get all real and honest with y'all and tell you how I sort of let go of Lent this year... --how I blew it and gave up without even noticing, and how the real challenge came once I DID notice because the thing I was 'giving up' for Lent was Negativity, so... you know: Hard.

But then my friend Kim went and already wrote that post so I thought - whew... off the hook, right? 

Yeah, not so much, because lately He has been shelling out grace while calling me to lean in, stretching me thin, and He has been reminding me, once again (again), just what Easter and Lent and this whole Holy week is all really about! 

And it's all about this:

It's all about how we have been given a brand new life... how we have everything to live for, including a future in heaven - and --wait for it: that future starts now!

It starts right now! (or then... whatever. You know what I mean!)  It starts the moment we invite Him in and accept His love.  It starts the second we lean in and find ourselves living eternally, right here on earth.

We are eternal beings... living life right now.  There is no waiting until we get to heaven to start living eternal life. It is a gift that has already been given, and we are called to live it today. 

Which brings me back to Lent and Easter and Leaning in... 
I suppose I could take a positive spin on the whole Negativity Fast and tell you that I lost interest because I wasn't really catching a lot of negative thoughts.  This is true - and this is God because, well... that didn't used to be my natural bent! But it is now. I don't make room for or give in to negative talk very often.  I am not immune, but it is no longer normal for me. So instead of getting all Negative about how I failed Lent, I am choosing to give Him glory and praise for the Positivity, and just let the guilt go.

It's this LEANING IN though, that I really wanted to talk about today. 

It's become a Thing. Everyone is saying it... Lean in to this, and Lean in to that. 

This week, as I am reading through the Gospels slowly, I beg the Spirit to let me read about Easter with fresh eyes. He whispers to me to pay attention to the leaning in. It's then that my eyes fall on Simon of Cyrene and it's just a verse or two, but oh my goodness, how this man Leaned In!

I think it's funny that he is mentioned in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but John the Beloved leaves him out. Maybe he wasn't there for that... or maybe he, always the one leaning on Jesus' breast, just so wishes it could have been him...

I'm a storyteller (or so I've been told) and this thought is what is capturing my heart, catching my breath, and calling me closer:  

I wonder what Simon caught glimpse of, as he leaned in, bowed down, and took up the Cross with Jesus. I wonder what words of wisdom or words of grace that Jesus may have poured into Simon, as He was pouring out for us?

This is our call, after all: To Lean In. To Bow Down. To Pick up our Cross and Follow Him.

The Gospels tell it like this: Simon was on his way from the fields when the soldiers grabbed him and made him help Jesus carry the Cross, following behind Him.

Jesus was beaten and near death already and as much as the soldiers knew He needed to be crucified --Jesus knew it! It was for the joy set before Him, (read: beyond the Cross) that He endured the Cross. Surely His sheer determination to make it there would be enough to get Him to that Hill, but the soldiers knew nothing of His plan. They knew nothing of the Joy. They knew only of death and violence... they knew only of His bloodied and bleeding body that was human and frail and broken already. So they pulled out a man from the crowds and forced him to help, to come alongside, --and to lift the burden of the beam and the weight of the world for even just a few moments was such a gift.

Surely, Jesus whispered something between ragged breaths and groans of agony as Simon bent down low to take the Cross and carry it for Him. Surely, if nothing else, a gracious Thank you, spoken roughly through raw and swollen flesh.

Oh to partner with the Lord...
  to give the Gift Giver such relief...
    all while possibly unaware.

I want to be like Simon... I want to be willing even if I don't know the why or the how... I want to be stopped in the midst of what I am doing, and partner up with what it is that He is doing... I want to lean in, help shoulder whatever it is that is on His heart and trust that whatever Cross He calls me to carry, as long as I am following Him, I am not carrying it alone! 

This Holy week... this Easter and every Easter and every day in between, I want to lean in and bow down and rise up and boldly go live out this Brand New Life!

After all, Jesus paid for my Brand New Eternal Life and I want Him to get all that He paid for!

     


P.S.  I'm linking up with these lovely writers:

Holly Barrett for #TestimonyTuesday

Angela Parlin for #RaRaLinkUp

Jennifer Dukes Lee for #TellHisStory

Holley Gerth for #CoffeeforYourHeart

Meredith Bernard for #Woman2WomanWednesday