Journey through the Lent Season - Holy Week
This is the first year that I’ve really participated in the Lent season, at least as far as I can remember. Lent is a season of fasting, repentance, and preparation for Easter. Normally, Lent sneaks up on me, and I forget about it, so I end up missing it. This year, however, I happened to be playing for an Ash Wednesday service, so I had time to prepare and think about the next forty days. It has been a journey, and I’ve learned several things, so I thought I would share in this three-part series. Today, I’m taking a look at what happened during Holy Week.
Holy Week
This is where everything took a turn in a different direction. After Palm Sunday, that cup of coffee ceased to be a representation of sin and instead became a representation of heaven. On Monday, something just switched in me, and I realized, “In 6 days I get to drink a cup of coffee.”
I got really excited. Probably more excited than I should have been. The excitement grew as each day passed. I started daydreaming about what Sunday morning would be like. Which coffee mug would I use? Maybe the brand new one I got at that conference. Which flavor will I savor first? I wonder if I can run to Starbucks after practice and still make it back in time for church service.
It became almost an obsession. I was counting down the days to coffee more than I was counting down the days to Spring Break, and nothing is more important to me at this time of year than Spring Break.
And then I realized what the apostles must have felt when Jesus ascending to heaven after his resurrection. They had just spent the last three years following this guy around, only to have him crucified. Three days later, he returns from the dead, but he doesn’t stay long. Yet, he tells them that he will return.
This is what they must have experienced for the remainder of their days: this great anticipation and expectation. When will he come back? No worries about not accomplishing all your life goals. No worries about what you could miss out on if he does return. Just the unadulterated excitement of potentially seeing the Savior today.
As Holy Week progressed, I kept looking forward to being able to drink coffee again. I kept counting the days. I kept planning out what Easter morning would be like for me. I kept looking forward with hope and anticipation. When it came around, it was all worth it.
I woke up this morning and headed downstairs, extremely excited. I brewed my first cup, a toasted hazelnut blend from Seattle’s Best. I didn’t go for it right away either. You can’t get overly careless. If I burned my tongue, everything would have been pointless. I savored it. I inhaled the aroma as it cooled. Then, I took my first sip, the first since mid-February. And it was heavenly.
Final Thoughts
We deal with a lot of crap in life. That’s what Lent reminded me of this year. In our daily grind, life gets tough. It gets overbearing. It gets monotonous. But that’s the beauty of the cross. The cross gives us hope. Hope that one day all of this will be over. We know that one day, all of this will pass, and we will spend the rest of eternity with Life itself. No more pain. No more suffering. No more death. And for that, I am eternally grateful.