Improve the Soil

A recent television series about gardening for beginners attracted a large number of viewers. Gardening experts went into the gardens of a handful of people and advised them about ways of improving their little bit of land. One new gardener wanted to know what he could do with a particularly unsightly area. ―That,‖ the expert replied, ―is a wilderness! Nothing will grow there unless you are willing to improve the soil!‖
The process of improving the soil involved several hours of back-breaking digging, fertilizing, applying many loads of new top soil and mixing it all with the original soil. A few months later, the cameras and the gardening expert returned to see a truly beautiful garden. Looking at the wonderful display of plants, the gardening expert asked if the great effort had been worth it. ―Yes!‖ came the quick reply. ―It was a great feeling, getting rid of the ―bad‖ soil, and just look at the result!‖
Lent is a bit like that gardening effort – getting rid of the bad soil in our lives, recreating ourselves, beginning again. Like Jesus, in this weekend‘s Gospel, we can enter a wilderness of our own during Lent and emerge refreshed and full of strength. For us, Lent marks out an opportunity to begin again, and the Good News of this season is that salvation is open to all of us. God invites every single person, no matter who we are, to repent and believe the Good News. We need to be freed from the distractions in our lives so that we can really concentrate on what we need to do to improve ourselves. The biggest temptation is to believe that we can‘t do anything! Unfortunately, to do nothing to change our lives is to turn away from Jesus‘ call to repent.
With Lent, we are actually moving into an area of risk, action and hurt. If we really mean it, we are putting ourselves into a place where we will indeed be changed. That is the truth of the cross! The cross means to change us! We intend the transformation. After all, we do not plant seeds and expect to harvest horses!
Finally, we are talking about more than just rearranging furniture – you know, the same old stuff, just moved to a different spot. We mean more than a facelift (Which one commentator described as an act in which the past is erased at the expense of character). This Lent should create a new kind of future out of our difficult past. Forgiveness connects the two. So, let us all begin calmly to plot the resurrection God has promised us!