How the Lent Season Changed Me
by Billie Meadors
One morning when I was the receptionist at a large law firm downtown, one of the partners walked in with a big smudge on his forehead. Trying to be helpful, I said, “Mr. Jones, I’m not sure what you bumped your head on, but there’s a big black smudge on your forehead.”
“I just came from Ash Wednesday service at my church,” he said as he walked away. I distinctly remember thinking, “Well, there’s still a big black smudge on your forehead that you need to fix.” He had talked often about his love for his Episcopalian church, and I shrugged it off as an Episcopalian thing.
Later, I worked at a small firm where the two partners were Catholic. When the familiar smudge appeared on their foreheads one Wednesday, I had to know what it meant. The word “Ash” before Wednesday had no meaning in my Southern Baptist mind, but I appreciated their explanation on the subject and shrugged it off as a Catholic thing.
Eventually I became the executive assistant to a Christ-centered attorney who was Methodist. When I was hired, his daughter was five months old, and eight months later his son was born. He and his wife embraced me as family. I watched as their children grew into high-energy wind-up toys. One day he called and asked, “Billie, do you think giving up my children for Lent would be ok?” I said, “Gosh, I don’t know, what’s Lent and what are the rules?” After hearing his explanation, I suggested giving the kids to the grandparents for 40 days. We both laughed.
I was ignorant my entire Christian life of the rich meaning and practice of Lent season until Pastor Rick taught our church. His leadership has led me from denominational thinking to simply following Jesus. Each year has become more meaningful as we’ve gathered on Ash Wednesday, and I’ve become more serious and watchful over my heart and mind. It’s not about symbols worn on the outside, but rather about cleansing my heart by sacrificing meaningless things as I reflect on the cross and what Jesus did for me. I was once that blind Pharisee who needed to wash the inside of the cup so that the outside would become clean too (Matt. 23:26).
Now I examine my cup often for any spots that need to be scrubbed, and it’s not just for 40 days during Lent season. The wonder of Lent season is the change God made in me that caused me to want to give up bigger things than coffee or chocolate, to want to live my life worthy of my calling and more focused on what I’ve been entrusted with than on what concerns me about life. The wonder is that Lent season became more than a season. It became a passion of my heart.
This week as I read in Matthew about Jesus’ last week on earth, I wondered if some of those people who were so excited to worship Him as He entered Jerusalem were likely the same people who later yelled, “Crucify Him!” They no longer valued Him.
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the parable of a master who entrusted three servants with his money while he was gone. One of them hoarded the money. We’ve been entrusted with the Gospel to invest into the lives of others.
Pastor Rick recently asked a haunting question: “Will anyone be in heaven because of [me]?”
Do I value Jesus enough not to hoard that with which I’ve been entrusted? Do I freely share the price He paid for my sin with those He puts in my path? By my conversations, what is my true passion?
Author Bio
Billie is a woman on the journey of life who loves God and His word, family, friends, her golden retriever Noble, CRBC and iced triple grande-two-pump-nonfat-no-whip-light-iced-white chocolate mochas. If she had her way, she would live in the mountains where drinking coffee by a stream is the closest thing to heaven she could imagine!