{"id":235,"date":"2009-02-25T08:48:23","date_gmt":"2009-02-25T08:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2009\/02\/begin-a-season-of-reflection.html"},"modified":"2009-02-25T08:48:23","modified_gmt":"2009-02-25T08:48:23","slug":"begin-a-season-of-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/02\/begin-a-season-of-reflection.html","title":{"rendered":"Begin a Season of Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is Ash Wednesday and marks the season of Lent – 40 days of preparation before Easter. I didn't come from a Christian tradition that celebrated the church calendar, but I have found practices like this deeply spiritual. It's a time of reflection, fasting and prayer that helps me to focus on spiritual things I typically neglect. I would encourage you to take part in this season, even to a small degree. Here are some places to help you: Sacred Space – Lent 2009<\/a> and Per Christum – Lenten Resources Online<\/a>. Here's a prayer by Henri Nouwen to start you out:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dear Lord Jesus,<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Today the Lenten season begins. It is a time to be with you in a special way, a time to pray, to fast, and thus to follow you on your way to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, and to the final victory over death.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, human respect, pleasure, power and influence. Help me to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I know that Lent is going to be a very hard time for me. The choice for your way has to be made every moment of my life. I have to choose thoughts that are your thoughts, words that are your words, and actions that are your actions. There are no times or places without choices. And I know how deeply I resist choosing you.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Please, Lord, be with me at every moment and in every place. Give me the strength and the courage to live this season faithfully, so that, when Easter comes, I will be able to taste with joy the new life which you have prepared for me.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is Ash Wednesday and marks the season of Lent – 40 days of preparation before Easter. I didn't come from a Christian tradition that celebrated the church calendar, but I have found practices like this deeply spiritual. It's a time of reflection, fasting and prayer that helps me to focus on spiritual things I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-swaziland"],"yoast_head":"\nBegin a Season of Reflection - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2009\/02\/begin-a-season-of-reflection.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Begin a Season of Reflection - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today is Ash Wednesday and marks the season of Lent – 40 days of preparation before Easter. 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}