Return to Me

“Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning.”

Joel 2:12

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season, a time for all Christians to examine their relationship with God. Wherever we may be on our spiritual journey, God is calling out to us. God is speaking to us. God is asking us to return to Him.

“Even now” the Lord says, “return to me.” Even now. Where are we at this very moment? Where are we in our relationship with the Lord? Wherever we may be we are be invited to journey to the Lord. No matter how long we have been away from God or how far we have drifted from Him, God says “Return to me!” Lent is a time of homecoming, a time of journeying back to the One who has loved us from all eternity. The Lord asks us to return to Him with our whole heart — what else would be fitting? God gave us His very Self so it is only fitting that we return to Him with our whole heart and being.

Repentance is a major theme during Lent. It is not simply confessing our sins, but rather a turning back, a conversion, a transformed way of living. We are not simply “giving something up” for Lent. We are saying “yes” to God and “no” to the enemy. We are saying “I want to reclaim my truest identity. I want to live as the beloved son/daughter of God.” We must say this everyday. We will fall on our path of returning to God, but that should not deter us. God is waiting and He is patient. In fact, He runs to us and He helps us up, but we need to let Him. Even if we fall every day, the next moment is a new beginning. God remains there by our side. God does not give up on us.

This Lent, may we hasten our way back to God and when we begin to stumble let us never forget that God is there and He says to us, “Even now, return to me.”

Click below to watch today’s reflection.