Lent, Light and the Birthing of a Child

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Lent.
 We tend to think of Advent as a time of joyful anticipation and Lent as a dismal period of sack cloth and ashes.
How ridiculous.
We are preparing to celebrate THE most joyful event in the history of humanity, the death and resurrection of our Saviour. Lent is the most joyful, light filled season for me because I empty myself so that I might die and rise with Christ in triumphant glory. The darkness of my sin, the sin of others or the sin of the world is not a malignant force as much as it is simply the absence of light. The light of just one candle banishes darkness.
I have been pregnant during Advent and given birth right on Christmas Eve and I have been pregnant all of Lent and given birth right on Easter Morning. Both pregnancies and births were a time ” to give to the light”, to give new life to Christ. In a sense we are all pregnant during Advent and Lent every year and we all give birth to Christ within us more fully every Christmas and every Easter morning.

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