“The good news of Jesus is not that we get a merit badge for being put together and hope that God ignores our failures. We serve God not only with our strengths, but in our weaknesses. The ones Jesus calls are the weary ones, the ones who snap at those they love after a long day, the ones who battle addiction, the ones who aren’t who they wish they were, the ones who know they are not strong, the ones who wrestle and repent, who fail and fail again. This is the church, these ones through whom Jesus is strong” (Tish Harrison Warren).

It’s Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. Traditionally, this is when people choose to undergo a fasting period, whether it’s literal fasting from food or fasting from things like social media or television or their smart phones.

It’s not just about showing how spiritual you are by giving up something you really like. It’s taking the empty space left behind from the absence of that thing you gave up to make time for God to speak into the margins of your life. It’s about using the time you would have devoted to Facebook or binging Stranger Things to instead open up God’s word and let it soak in deep as you meditate over chapters and verses.

I didn’t grow up in a faith tradition that practiced Lent. I only learned about it later in life and started my annual fast from social media a few years ago. I confess that I don’t always steward my extra time well. But hopefully, I make room for me to be able to see God working in and around me and to give myself breathing space to hear God’s still small voice.

Lent is also a way to prepare your heart for the remembrance of Good Friday and the celebration of Easter Sunday. It’s a reminder that, like Christmas, Easter isn’t just a one-day event full of candy and Easter baskets, but an ongoing reminder of the purpose of Jesus’ incarnation — to take on the form of a servant and to be obedient to the Father to the point of laying down His life for sinners like you and me.

May you rediscover the true meaning of Easter through this season of Lent as you prepare yourself to receive once again the Lamb who was slain but is now the risen and reigning Lion of Judah.