Going into the desert with Seven Weeks for Water

On Ash Wednesday western Christians reflect on 40 days in the desert. Over on Seven Weeks for Water Anne Louise Mahoney writes about how the font in her church dries up during Lent, not only is there no water in it but the font is filled with sand. It's a powerful image of the spiritual wilderness pilgrimage that Lent represents.

For seven long weeks I pass by the sand-filled font each Sunday. I miss the water – its moisture, its gurgling, its cooling presence. I am prompted to face the desert areas in my own life – dried-up relationships, destructive habits, empty prayer, selfishness, pride, lack of compassion. I linger reluctantly in that barren place, trying to rediscover what is life giving.

As tonight I eat my mardi gras pancakes and think of the ashes I shall receive tomorrow as Lent begins, I too am thinking about the dried up, dessicated parts of my life and relationships.
Yet the wilderness is not only dry and barren, thisdesert is also a place of deep yearning and relationship, offering the possibility to get closer to God and closer to my own deeper and true desires. Can I bear to be this close, this vulnerbale and truly search for what I most want?
Read more on Holy Water here.