As I look about the landscape of the far west coast of South Australia, everything is terribly dry and barren. It has been months since we had rain. Paddocks have no fresh feed and stock are being hand fed with grain or hay, as the stubble disappears. Heatwaves bake the ground hard and the trees look stressed. It is a dry and barren land; a bit like the landscape that Jesus walked when he was tempted in the desert for 40 days.
What is dry and barren in my life?
Where do I need God's refreshment?
What is God wanting to revive in me or even replant in me?
As Lent enters into autumn in the southern hemisphere, there is the promise of the opening rains for the growing season. To me this is like the coming of Easter morning: life begins again 'like grass that springs up new', as the words of the hymn say.
My Lenten contemplation - what new grass will God spring up in me?
What will die this year?
