Exactly one month ago, my favorite farmer was pushing snow from our driveway by bucket-loads. He’d come in at night, stamping snow from his boots, saying he’d run out of room to put it all. Where could he push another bucket-load?

And I looked at the stacks and the piles in our white-blown world. It reminded me of my sin — all stacked up and piled up. Sometimes, I run out of room for all this sin. I hold on to it, piling it up and pushing it to the sides by bucket-loads.

The Son beckoned: bring it to Me.

So I ran for the cross.

Oh, how He melts me.

“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
– Ephesians 5:14

A month later, I look out the window. The piles are almost gone.

And here in the middle of my 40-day Lenten-look-within, I feel a stripping-away, too.

I’ve been taking things to the cross, leaving them there.

At the foot of the cross, I pause to find beauty. Behold, last year’s roses. They are, indeed, like beauty from ashes.

Christ loved us and
gave Himself up for us,
a fragrant offering
and sacrifice to God.
– Ephesians 5:2

May you find beauty
when you pause
at the foot of the cross today.

Photos: End of winter at the Lee home.

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