There is, I think, a sense in Lent that we are supposed to improve things, ourselves and our way we go about living. That during these six weeks of reflection and repentance, we are supposed to give up or take on things that will make us better.

By doing so you will see that when you love your neighbor, you are seeing Christ in that person. When you love God, you will be sharing God’s word with all peoples, through thought, word and deed.

God is permanent; even the greatest empires will hardly take root; planted in shallow dirt, the roots of evil will be scattered by the wind, the tempest will carry them off as if they are nothing. Yet, when we don’t hear the word of God proclaimed, it is sometimes hard to recall that all of our hardships are temporary. We might lead lives of busyness and exhaustion but God does not. God is the firmament upon which we stand, if only we could realize that always. Though we grow weary of a weariness making world, God does not.

So, what comes from this is our need to realize that along with temptation and along with the wild beasts, we are surrounded by angels. Just as the angels were there to support and lift up Jesus in his wilderness, they are here for us now in our own wildernesses. We are surrounded by angels, the angels who make us laugh, the angels who ease our pains, the angels who allow our souls to rest.

Jesus looked into Nathaniel’s heart, his very soul, as he sat beneath a fig tree and he found goodness, not deceit, honesty, not underhandedness. Jesus was seeking out Nathaniel and from a distance, he found him. Jesus too, is seeking you.