Once, a troubled teenager tried to trick an elderly rabbi, known for his wisdom. The boy said, “I have a bird in my hand…is it alive? Or is it dead?” He knew that if the rabbi said “Alive,” he could crush it and prove the man wrong. On the other hand, If the rabbi said “Dead” he would open his hand and let the bird fly away . . . again proving the rabbi wrong. But the rabbi was not so easily trapped, for he responded by saying, “The answer, alive or dead, is in your power and in your hands. It is what you will.”

The season of Lent, which begins on Wednesday, is a time to look seriously at our lives and to see that they truly are in our hands. . . . for good or for ill. God has given us the power to use our lives in ways that are life-giving or to waste them through destructive actions. Daily we make those choices through our habits, our attitudes, our relationships and our use of time. Often, we don’t consider just what it is that we are doing. But choices are ours to make. We can continue in destructive patterns, and self-defeating actions or we can make positive changes in our lives. We can ask for the help we need. We can go back to school and educate ourselves. We can get counseling for ourselves or a troubled child. We can deal with our illnesses. We can end destructive relationships. We can stop abusing alcohol, drugs and other people. We can treat everyone with kindness and respect. We can choose the path of goodness. We can reach out in love to those around us. We can learn to cope. We can draw nearer to God. We can experience the comfort and peace of God. We can accept God’s forgiveness and mercy. We can let go of yesterday’s destructiveness and move into tomorrow’s promise.

Lent, the six-week period that begins on Ash Wednesday and continues till Easter, offers us the opportunity to reflect, to grow, to ask the questions about our life that we can too easily put off. However difficult the questions may be, we have this assurance that God is with us. There is nothing that can separate us from God’s love. Not a troubled child, or an ugly divorce, a business that fails, or our personal failure. God wants for all of us to experience that abundance of life that comes in our putting ourselves in the hands of God, then following where God leads. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) May your Lenten Journey draw you more fully into that abundant and life-giving power of Christ.