“Look, he is calling Elijah.” Mark 14:1—15:47

Easter eggs, chocolate bunnies, and pastel-colored baskets seem to have been stocked on store shelves since Valentine’s Day. These items represent the joy of the resurrection—the excitement of finding something as a result of the Easter promise. But it’s almost as if our commercial world has forgotten about the season of Lent—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—forty days of preparation, journeying, and sacrifice that are intended to make an arrival to the season of Easter that much more exciting! As we take a look at our season of Lent, might we too have forgotten some things along the way? Forty days is long indeed, no doubt.

As we arrive at Palm Sunday, we might ask ourselves: How have I stumbled or strayed from my original Lenten promises that I made back on Ash Wednesday?

Give yourself a break, and don’t stress if your original Lenten intentions have been abandoned unintentionally. God invites us to call upon him to re-center and refocus ourselves, as many times as we need. As we enter into the home stretch of Lent this week with the arrival of Holy Week, let this be a time for us to revisit our Ash Wednesday promises to ourselves, and to God.

Make this week Holy, and don’t hesitate to call for Elijah to give you the strength you need to conclude your Lenten journey in a space that makes all of the Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies a treasured treat during a season where we celebrate the Resurrection!