Lent has arrived, and with that familiar, quiet seriousness that seems to settle over our churches, our streets, and even our hearts. The usual questions come back around: “What are you giving up this year?”, “What will you fast from?”, “What promise are you making?”
But before we decide to give up coffee, sweets, or social media, it’s worth pausing to listen to this simple yet urgent truth:
Lent is not about changing clothes or diet… it’s about changing direction.
Because we can fast all we want, but if we keep walking the same path, nothing really changes. We can turn down the noise around us, but if our heart stays closed, the real noise is still inside. We can wear the ashes proudly, but if our soul stays shut off from God, it’s just dust on our forehead… nothing more.
So, Lent It’s not about showing off our sacrifices.
It’s about getting back on the right road: The Way of Christ.
It’s about admitting where we’ve drifted, where we’ve grown cold, where life has filled us with excuses to keep living far from God and far from others.
God doesn’t want empty gestures or sacrifices made for show.
He’s not asking for long faces or promises that last forty days and disappear.
What He wants is our heart back.
Our life, with all its weight and all its hope.
He wants us to return to what gives life, to what fills us, to Him who saves us.
“Choose life,” Scripture says.
And it’s not just talking about breathing, eating, and working. It’s about a life that blooms from within. That deep peace we only find when we know we’re walking hand in hand with the Father, even when everything else feels shaky.
“Take up your cross and follow me,” Jesus says.
Because no one makes their way back to God on an easy road.
It’s not about having no burdens.
It’s about knowing why, and for whom, we’re carrying them.
The one who empties themselves and follows Christ—that’s the one who finds life that’s worth living.
So yes… give up the bread if you want.
Turn off your phone for a while.
Say no to the dessert or the noise.
But don’t forget what really matters:
Let Lent change our soul, not just our habits.
Let it change our direction, not just our schedule.
Because if, after forty days, we’re still walking in the same direction as before, we will have missed the best part:
Coming home.
Coming back to God.
Coming back to who we really are—the people He dreamed us to be.
Closing invitation to share:
If this stirred something in you, don’t keep it to yourself.
Share this word. Someone else out there might just be waiting for a sign to change direction… and they don’t even know it.
