“…unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit”
John 12:24
Have you experienced death in your life? Death within yourself? Perhaps it was your ego or release of a disordered attachment that was consuming your life?
Today’s readings are full of meaning for us during our Lenten journey. In the first reading from Jeremiah 31:31-34, God tells us that He has placed His law within us and written it upon our hearts. What law could He be referring to? Was it the greatest commandment Jesus refers to in Matthew 22:34-39, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind”?
A Seed of LOVE?
In the book Hinds Feet on High Places, the main character undergoes a process of transformation that starts with the good shepherd planting a seed of love within her. It can’t grow and produce unless she wants it to.
God has placed a deep desire within our hearts to love Him and to have a relationship with Him. But circumstance and the world surrounding us muddy the water, making it difficult to find it. It is only when we surrender these disordered attachments mucking up the waters that the desire begins to grow, producing an abundant fruit.
Yesterday, I was outside pulling some weeds up around plants and palm trees in my yard. Other than the weeds, life seemed non-existent. Then, I noticed little sprouts of life poking out of the ground from one of the plants. It was a great reminder to me that life is a process and we have to experience death to produce life.
Jesus knows that in order for that seed of LOVE to grow, we have to die to self. Just as the grain of wheat cannot germinate and reproduce unless it falls to the ground and dies, neither can we sprout and produce fruit from the seed God planted within us.
If you have been intentional in your Lenten journey these last four weeks, seeking deeper meaning and conversion in your journey, you have been going through this process of growth. Just as the grain of wheat, you are dying to self to be resurrected in new life when the journey ends at Easter.
This resurrected life we experience results in picking up that beautiful cross we were given and following him with a deeper desire to LOVE and GROW in relationship.
Our invitation today, may be to look at the crucifix and meditate on our Lenten journey, asking ourselves have I been intentional in allowing God to work in my life through this process of dying to self.
Lord, reveal to me this process You have been carrying me through during this Lenten journey. Have I been surrendering myself, allowing You to work in me, bringing new life through a deeper desire to love and serve You. Lord, if I have not been intentional these last four weeks, stir up my heart to allow me to die to my self ego, my disordered attachments, so that You can bear fruit within me these last few weeks of Lent. Amen
Women Who Walk By Faith 
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