It will not have escaped you that today is the first day of Lent.
There are a number of Lent Blogs to keep an eye on, particularly here.
Lent is a time for simplicity, to rid yourself of stuff and try to focus more on God and the coming of Easter. It’s not a time of diets and de-toxing for our own gain advantage it has become for some, but a time to free us to worship in a simple and more pure way. This ties in well with my re-centreing.

On this first day of Lent I have been thinking about the desert and how Jesus went into the desert for 40 days. Often the desert is seen as a harsh place, but it can also be a place of rich discovery.

I remember when I was younger in my Qatar visiting days that I would walk with friends in the desert and it would not be unusual to discover things behind sand dunes, or under the sand,which were surprising and quite exciting discoveries. Other times, in our madness, we would run on the Hash through the desert and again be amazed at some of the things we saw.

Currently I am in a bit of a mental desert, which I am seeing as a positive thing which excites me. It’s not always fun here, and I certainly have not lost God or not hearing God – it just feels a little dry and laboured for much of the time.

I believe the desert is a place where we have to look to God, and that as we do we rediscover a little more of who we are and who we are created to be. In my Lenten desert I am hoping to rediscover more of my identity – to discover more of what is at the centre of me.