Of Faith & Flutterbies

So we are 4 days into Lent - preparing for Easter.  I have not given anything up for Lent again this year, as I've promised friends and co-workers that I would never give up chocolate or caffeine again. It was ugly... don't ask.   

However, to prepare for Easter, I'm doing Margaret Feinberg's Lent Reading Challenge again this year. It's still soon enough that you can get caught up on the readings. [Hint, Hint] The daily readings are the books of Luke & Acts. I've added my own twist, and have started a journal to record insights as I read.  

Even though I've read both books before, I still learn new things each time I re-read. One of the things that have struck me so far is how Elizabeth and Zechariah each reacted when they found out that Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist.  Zechariah was struck dumb because he didn’t believe it when the angel Gabriel told him that Elizabeth would have a child.  Elizabeth, however, commented that “The Lord has done this for me”.  I find it comforting to realize that the women of the Bible had more faith than the men at times.

This week the Small Group at The Fellowship at Scofield Farms started the War Room Bible Study.  It promises to be challenging.  One of the things suggested is to create your own War Room (Prayer/Study Room).  Given the size of my condo, I'm using my back yard as it is also something of a sanctuary for me.  My sister helped helped me re-design the back yard a few years ago, and it turned out really well.

As you can see from the picture above, my backyard is decorated with butterflies, or as I called them when I was a child, "flutterbies".  Part of the reason I love butterflies is that they are a wonderful picture of how God can take a caterpillar, something that most consider ordinary at best, an ugly pest at worst, at turn it into something beautiful and graceful.  

It's also appropriate as we approach Easter.  This is the ultimate example of God's ability to take something ordinary like a human body and turn it into something extraordinary: a resurrected Christ who paid the price for our sins, and thru which we have salvation.  My faith in Christ is what gives me ultimate hope for the future.

My prayer is that we all become more aware of God & Christ's sacrifice during this Lent season.  Happy Lent!