Lent.

"A furnace of renewal." - Buddy Odom

"Repentance is not behavior modification it is being thrown on the mercy of God." - Mike Kuhn

"Be different because I am different" - Sybil speaking of Jesus' words

"Abounding in Steadfast Love." - Nehemiah 9:17

"I trade these ashes in for beauty, and wear forgiveness like a crown." - Kathryn Scott

These are just a few of the ponderings since Ash Wednesday.

And the death of the Red Lion Amarylis.

Repentance and death and lament and crying out are hard. But they are meant to be a part of living that leads me to freedom and LIFE.

The question is posed to me, "Is my heart remote and detached from the movement of God in me?" by Buddy odom in his Lenten devotional.

I don't want my heart to be dead and detached. I want it to be ALIVE and VIBRANT and COLORFUL like I remember the Red Lion Amarylis was not so long ago.

I do not know what God has planned for this Lenten season.
I do not understand His ways that include both joy and destruction - spring and tsunamis.

But I know that I need Him. I know that He is my only HOPE. I know that his words can be trusted, "The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief." John 10 msg.

Today, His banner over me is LOVE.