By Lindy Morelli

“If today, you hear God’s voice, harden not your heart.” Psalm 95
Lent is a great and holy time to renew yourself in God…” she said, and I’ll never forget the impact of what that meant.
Lent, a special time, a sacred season which we set carefully aside; a time to pray; to reflect in encountering Christ.
When I was in fourth grade, I had a very special teacher. Miss Murray had a profound influence on my life. she was young and vibrant, full of love and hope. Everything she did was filled with joy. “Come girls, see the buds; feel the sun ?” she’d invite when the dogwoods were in bloom. At our school for the blind, we had beautiful gardens, lush meadows and lovely tall trees. “Reach up; touch the blossoms; aren’t they pretty?” she would say, as I’d breathe their gentle fragrance in with awe.
For me, Lent is like the buds that come out every spring. Indeed, even though we think of Lent as a somber time for penance and self denial (as is surely fitting) the fruit of our efforts at putting ourselves voluntarily aside, is renewal,joy, and transformation. As we go deep inside, in honest self reflection; we then make conscious efforts to correct our faults. As we do the hard work of “spring cleaning for our souls,” beautiful new buds soon blossom forth.
“Lent is a great and holy time to renew ourselves in God…” (Miss Murray’s words that echo from long ago. As minutes, day by day, slip by, (grains of sand, one by one, passing through an hour glass) each moment is like precious glistening gold! Yet,though I knew Miss Murray, Oh so long ago, in those words I hear a call to”wake up; come alive!” “Don’t let your heart be dead or fast asleep. But let your heart be warmed by the coming of spring.”