As I began thinking about how my Lenten observance can help me deal with the troubling issues of our nation and the larger world, I was reminded of what I’ve observed in my own yard the past month. During a stretch of warm weather in late January, I noticed the green fronds of daffodils (or are they jonquils? – I don’t know the difference – so let’s just say buttercups) appearing in the flower beds in our yard. My immediate reaction was, “Hey, you’re too early; winter is about to hit with a vengeance!” Of course, just a few days later, that early-bird greenery was trapped beneath packed snow and a solid glaze of ice.

Herein lies the persistence of nature. That exposed greenery was connected to the bulbs safely buried in the soil. Even with the snow, ice, and freezing temperatures lasting well over a week, the persistent power of the bulb remained steadfast. When the icy blanket melted, those green promises of a spring to come reappeared, undeterred by their frozen imprisonment. Now, about two weeks later, as these images show, I can enjoy the splendid beauty of the blooming buttercups presaged by those green leaves.

This scenario is a metaphor for the lives of some very faithful people I’ve been blessed to know. Just at the point where they seemed ready to burst forth with creative, beautiful living, something oppressive, or even tragic, blanketed their lives with what would seem to kill whatever abundant life they might have experienced. But like the persistence of the buttercups, they rebounded from their hardship, their tragedies, to bloom in the way, according to Genesis, God created them: as reflections of the image of God. They found strength in the promises of scripture that, as Psalm 121:8 asserts, “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.”
As people of faith and hope, those of us who seek to follow Jesus Christ can become persistent beacons of truth, justice, forgiveness, faith, and love in a world that desperately needs those qualities in the face of the divisions, selfishness, and distrusts that permeate our society. Our Lenten disciplines can provide us that internal strength that enables us, like those buttercups, to rise above the storms of life and bloom with the beauty God places in our hearts.

One thing that empowers our spirits to be as persistently faithful to God’s plan for creation as those bulbs is a spirit gratitude and generosity. Those are really two sides of the same coin. Generosity springs forth from true gratitude like the blossoms do from those bulbs. A generous spirit fosters even more gratitude as it recognizes the abundance out of which we can become more generous in sharing the blessings God has placed in our world.

This Lent, I would encourage you to look at the persistent beauty of God’s creative work as a means of deepening your spiritual disciplines of prayer, worship, Bible study, meditation, service, fellowship, and fasting…and to add gratitude and generosity to your Lent practices as well.

 

 

Rev. Dr. David Comperry,
Field Staff Representative