Lenten Season: Giving Up or Gaining Ground

For many Christ followers, the Lenten Season, centered on Jesus’s 40-Day journey of fasting in the wilderness, is a time of sacrifice and spiritual reflection. When approaching this sacred season, many Believers ponder “What will I give up”? Examining the narrative of Jesus’s time of pause between His baptism and ministry beginnings, one can see Lent is more than denial.  Focusing on where Jesus enters and how He emerged propels us to great anticipation and expectation. God could have sent Jesus anywhere, but God sent Jesus into “the wilderness” or nature (Matt. 4:1, Mark 1:12, Luke 4:1), a place symbolic of new beginnings (Genesis 1:11-24).  Accompanied by the Spirit, in the special and sacred space of nature, Jesus had all that He needed.As we are reminded of the gift and sanctity of nature, we should be called to earnestly focus on protecting and preserving our clean air, water and soil through our everyday actions by reducing waste and carbon emissions.Finally, after having entered this time of sacrifice embodied of the Spirit (Luke 4:1), Jesus emerged “filled with the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14a). What a glorious transformation yielding encouragement and hope for Christians!Today, during a season of inexplicable suffering due to a peculiar pandemic that has impacted many lives and forced many people to give up the unencumbered smell of fresh air and unmasked walks outdoors, the blessing in the Lenten season of giving up something is truly one of gaining ground.________________________________________________________________Tina Spencer-Smith is a member of the GIPL Advisory Council and the Administration Minister for Zion Hill Baptist Church in South Fulton/Atlanta. She has a keen interest in the intersection of sustainability and spirituality, is a sustainability consultant, environmental policy expert and environmental justice advocate.