The house has been cleaned ready for the visitors this afternoon. Vacuum cleaner, cleaning agents, dusters have all been applied. Energy has been expended- a slight warmth in the body noticed.
Now let's qualify that; the house has been cleaned in the parts the visitors are likely to go. The usual preparations, I imagine, in most houses when visitors are expected. Dusty corners remain. Unpolished surfaces too.
If I take this as a metaphor for what Lent is about, this half-preparation will not do, although again it's about as far as most of us get. The 'turn away from sin, and turn to Christ' will leave us with unexamined habits, favourite attitudes still harboured and loved.
We do our best, with limited insight into what makes us tick, what makes us who we are. Few can produce the 'hundredfold' harvest in the parable of the sower, but there is no berating from Jesus' lips of the ones who produce thirty, sixty fold. The direction of travel is Godward, and I'm sure God will honour that.
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