Fasting Day 22 of 40 | Fourth Saturday of Lent
“During Gideon’s lifetime, the land had peace forty years.” Judges 8:28b
As I write this, I am 58 years old. When Brother Lawrence was that age he wrote of a divine favor that he experienced at 18. It shaped his life for the next 40 years. I hope this reading does the same for you.
“The first time I saw Brother Lawrence was upon the 3rd of August 1666. He told me that GOD had done him a singular favor, in his conversion at the age of eighteen. That in the winter, seeing a tree stripped of its leaves, and considering that within a little time, the leaves would be renewed, and after that the flowers and fruit appear, he received a high view of the providence and power of GOD, which has never since been effaced from his soul. That this view had perfectly set him loose from the world, and kindled in him such a love for GOD, that he could not tell whether it had increased in above forty years that he had lived since.”
Brother Lawrence (1614-1691) in The Practice of the Presence of God, excerpt from the First Conversation.
For those of us reading this during Lent in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring is upon us. We see new buds form and the life appear on trees. We see this all over the world. Next time you notice it, consider the providence and power of God at work in them. Ask God to have that same providence and power at work in you to enable you to live, give, serve, and love generously like a fruitful tree.
God, thank you for your love, providence, and power. Amen.
Take a walk today and look for favors, signs of God’s love, providence, and power. Tell someone what you saw.