Ash Wednesday

Today marks the beginning of lent, that 40 days of reflection before Easter.   It is often characterized as a time in the desert.  I was thinking today about hope. We have gone through a long, cold, brutal winter this year.  We have seen temps above freezing only a couple of times in the last three months.  There is multiple feet of snow lining every street and veritable mountains of snow in every parking lot.  

It really feels kind of hopeless. But looking at the calendar, spring is just a few short weeks away. 

How do we get from feet of snow to sunshine, butterflies and flowers.  That is what lent is to me; the journey from the cold dark into the warm light of a relationship with the Savior.