The gritty sand

Disclaimer: Each Lenten season is different. Lent is an individual journey. Follow the Lord.

Just because it’s Lent doesn’t mean I have to “do” something. Yet why is there this need to do? To do means I can measure what’s been accomplished. I can check off what I’ve done. I can determine if I was successful for Lent, in a tangible way, because I can measure what I did. (Just a note – there are a lot of “I’s” in that sentence; not a favorable focus). The question continues to arise, Lord, what do you want me to do? What I hear from Him is, “just be.” Don’t get me wrong. Lenten sacrifices, led by Him are beautiful. But this year, for whatever reason, the Lord is not asking me to do anything. He is asking me to be; to be with Him, to sit with Him, to know Him in a deeper way, to see Him face to face and to experience Him through those around me. He wants me to be still. There is something He wants to do.

You see, I have stepped into The Sandbox and now I’m getting gritty. I am not a sand person. In fact, I don’t like the sand and find myself brushing off the grit. It’s uncomfortable, abrasive and scratchy. As I sit in the sandbox, the Lord is brining to the forefront the things in me that He wishes to work on; areas that are coarse, which somehow, the sand will help smooth and refine. So I sit quietly in the sand, that I might notice what those things are.

Sand has exfoliating properties. To exfoliate is to shed from the surface in scales or layers. We can accumulate many layers over time and those are layers, the Lord wishes to remove. Not only do the layers hide who we are from others, they hide who we are from ourselves. Exfoliating cleanses away these layers, these impurities, and reveals what’s underneath. The process of exfoliating can be painful and can even make us feel kind of raw and exposed; not necessarily a comfortable thought. We can’t shed the layers if we aren’t willing to sit and let the sand do it’s thing. The result of exfoliating – shedding and cleansing; something new emerging.

Another disclaimer – it’s not about beating ourselves up. The Lord convicts. The enemy condemns. Conviction is a Holy Spirit led movement of the heart that makes us sorry for what we’ve done or what we’ve said, which leads us to repentance. Condemnation makes us see ourselves as a failure and it’s meant to drag us down. It is a very important distinction, one whose origin lies in either the Author of Life or the author of lies. The Author of Life is gentle and tender with us, while the author of lies is the complete opposite. The Author of Life may give us self awareness or He may use someone else to show us what needs smoothing out. Either way, we must be willing to sit, to be still, to ask and to allow the gritty sand to do its job.

As I sit in the sandbox, I await the “something new” the Lord wishes to do. And although I am not eager to feel exposed or raw, I know it is the only way to exfoliate; it is the only way to remove the layers and scales. So I ask you Lord to exfoliate away.

2 Corinthians 7:1 “…dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”