For Lent one year a pharmacy in a small southern U.S. Town, advertised a drawing for a rabbit. Sarah, a friend of mine , was a young girl at the time. She and her sister saw the ad and went into the store. They were too young to enter the drawing, so they filled out a card using their father’s name and phone number. The girls were elated to have done this, but they never mentioned it to their father. On the Saturday before Easter he received a call from the pharmacy informing him that his name had been drawn, and he had won the lovely rabbit. He could hardly grasp what the caller was saying, but he called Sarah and she confessed to putting his name on the card for the drawing. Her father was annoyed , but he drove the girls back to the pharmacy to collect his “prize.” At the store a clerk told them that the rabbit was in the back room, to which he soon went to get it for them. He emerged carrying a very large rabbit. . . made of chocolate. All three of the family were amazed, the girls perhaps slightly disappointed, and their father utterly delighted.

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. (Proverbs 16:9) From the time that God first engaged Abraham in conversation, and even before, there has been on earth an alternative to human plans that is the priceless dialogue between God and humans. At that intersection, when human spirits are open and in prayer, the futility of human planning disappears and great things, like the Exodus itself, can and do happen. In 1784 Robert Burns wrote, “The best made plans of mice and men often go awry.” It has been true ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden. Solomon wrote, “In their hearts humans plant their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)In the season of Lent we have an opportunity to offer to God our “best made plans,” and all the things planted in our hearts that do not have the sign of Christ in or on them. It’s a time of surrender to the greatest love the world has ever or will ever know. Lent is a time of separation from our own selves and re-attachment to our divine Father and brother. It’s a season made joyful by the knowledge of Christ’s resurrection, letting us know unequivocally that though we die, yet we will live: “ I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” (John 11;25)

Sara and her sister had no real idea of what they were doing. Their father didn’t even bring a box to carry the “rabbit” home. No one thought of the consequences of his or her plans, but none of them forgot this Lenten rabbit. The Lord alone knows our ways.

Love in Him,

Prue