Lent Devotion: In the Middle?

by Trevor Kunze, Alpha Retreat Dean

Psalm 37:23 “The Lord Directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” NLT

As I reflect on the season of Lent, I find that it can often feel tiresome and burdensome when all I really want to do is move past it and get to celebrating Easter and being filled with the indescribable joy of the resurrection.

Although it has been almost two months, I feel like I am still trying to ride the Christmas high that comes with celebrating the birth of our Savior. Yet here I find myself in this season of Lent, stuck in the middle of what I consider to be the two most joyous events in the church calendar.

It seems to me that I often get pulled into the cultural norm of always feeling like I am stuck somewhere in the middle, especially in my day-to-day life. If you go out to dinner with me at a restaurant, you know that one of my favorite things to say to the wait staff is that my birthday is “either coming up” or “just happened,” depending on which 6 months of the year it is, and see how they respond.

But I think this truly illuminates how a lot of us often feel, we are always waiting for the next big thing or reminiscing on the last big thing, and we feel like we are stuck in the middle of our own lives. If you don’t feel this way, you are welcome to stop reading here. BUT, if you have ever had that type of feeling, then maybe this will give you some encouragement.

A few more practical examples for you from my life and then I’ll get to the point. I love weightlifting and I currently want the biggest arms, but until I have the arms I desire, I am stuck “in the middle” season which requires dedicated lifting and eating healthy. I want to have six pack abs (emphasis on the want), but I’m in the middle which requires doing core workouts and, you guessed it, eating healthy. I want to be a better father, but I’m in the middle which requires seeking out Christian mentorship, learning about God the Father, attending men’s bible study, getting in the Word daily, loving my wife well, and spending time pouring into my daughter. All this work and preparation can sometimes feel like a tiresome process.

Maybe you are a little bit like me and at times you get tired and you long to get to the celebration, the good things, the reward, and you are also ready to just skip over the middle moments which lead you there. While we are tempted to believe that the middle moments are unnecessary and unneeded, something truly special happens if we lean into those moments instead.

When we lean into the daily grind, the repetition, the mundane; we start to see each task, each moment, each healthy meal, how God sees them, as delightful and beautiful! The same is true for our journey through the Lenten season, even though the greatest joy of Jesus’ resurrection is yet to come, so much beauty and joy can be found in the middle. Psalm 37:23 tells us that the LORD delights in every detail of our lives. When I read this, my first thoughts are along the lines of “Are you joking, God?” and “Every detail of my life?” So often my details are simple and nothing worth sharing… and yet the Lord DELIGHTS in them!

My prayer is that if you are experiencing an “In the Middle” moment of your life or feel stuck in the middle during this Lenten season, trust in the process God has set out for you, lean in to the middle, and see things through His eyes. Keep His hope and love close, even if you can’t quite see what the end will look like yet. And know He delights in every detail of your life and desires to walk through it with you.

You’re loved and prayed for,

Trevor Kunze