Today is Ash Wednesday, a day of prayer and penance, a day to be solemn and still. It is a day of turning back to the Lord, a day of repentance and a day of fasting.
It is an intimate time to grow closer to the Lord, following Him into the desert. The Lord has spoken to me, to my heart; He desires me to grow in silence and listening. To speak less and listen more, to let go of distractions, to read scripture and books about the saints, and to journal after quiet time.
The desert tells a different story every time one ventures on it. Robert Edison Fulton Jr.
It is a time of “letting go”, to exercise the mind and body, to turn towards God and away from self. It is a Holy discipline which increases virtue and charity. I desire to complain less, to criticize less, to let discouraging thoughts go and turn my focus to the good. To speak words that lift up and not tear down.
I begin the Lenten season today, not knowing where the Lord is leading me, but I follow Him into the desert because He knows. He is the living water, the oasis in the desert, and I seek Him and incline my ear in the dry, dusty, and parched land and I wait.
He whom knows me is there, waiting for me; He says, my daughter, come, journey with Me, let us go deeper into the desert. I take a step forward, reaching out my hand, feeling a touch of fear enter my mind, words don’t come but the tears do, and I take His hand and follow Him into the desert.
What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well. Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Fears and Tears 
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