Lent

I have been remembering this time last year, how snowy and grey it was in Maine (with no hope of the snow melting anytime soon), how we still didn't know where we would be moving come Summer, and how hard it was to wait patiently on the Lord.  It has been a rhythm of life for us for many years now - for Hubry to apply for jobs in the early Fall, to make it to the on-campus stage, and then for February to be a long, dark, emotional month of waiting, hoping, and not entirely knowing how to direct our prayers, but trusting deep down that the Lord is working together all things for the good of those who love him...

Over the past month, Hubry has been informed twice that he was runner up for the position he interviewed for.  Two times he was told that if the other candidate didn't accept the position, they would offer it to him, but both times the other candidate did accept the position.  I guess it's good to know you're a close second, but that makes 4 times now that Hubry has been a very close second. :)

Yet, here we are in Kennesaw, Georgia, Hubry with a good tenure track position and blessings abounding when we have eyes to see them.  And we are filled with thankfulness.

Georgia has the advantage over Maine when it comes to Spring.  There's a lot of beauty in Maine, and a lot we miss about it, but I can honestly say I don't miss March through May, when you are hopeful for Spring, but the weather remains the same, and the ground remains covered with a blanket of snow.  There truly is something glorious about March in Georgia, when all of a sudden the time changes (which is still a totally weird thing we do, by the way) and the Spring bursts out of hiding.  Birds are loud in their chirping, buds are peeking out, and the earth is filled with color.  It is hard for this not to color the soul as well...

Last year during this time I wrote this:  
"It is Lent, a season of preparation. For Lent Hubry and I purposed to daily wake before the children. We've been "giving up" sleeping in and "putting on" early morning Scripture reading. It's something we've always applauded in the ideal, but a habit hard to keep with our early morning risers...

It is Lent, a time to focus on repentance. With the early morning Scripture reading has come a sweeter communion with the Father, an answer to prayer. Yet in my mind more time in Scripture should equal happy, bright, and gay, not cold and grey. But as always, there is much weeding to be done, and a lot of sin to be exposed. I guess there is no way to focus on repentance, without first focusing on our sin. We can't turn from our sin without seeing it first. But the light this morning was so bright and cheerful, a hint of what is to come. The point of Lent, after all, is not the preparation or the repentance, but the culmination of Christ's work on the cross. Because we are preparing for something - and that something was a historical event that really happened...."

We find ourself in the midst of this season again, once again choosing to daily wake before the children in order to put on early morning Scripture reading.  It is a season of preparation, of weeding and rejoicing...and in Georgia the earth can hardly contain it's excitement as we wait to celebrate the culmination of Christ's work on the cross.