Lent Guide: In the Shadow of Gethsemaneಮಾದರಿ

... as usual

sow a thought

reap an action

sow an act

reap a habit

sow a habit

reap a character

sow a character

reap a destiny

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Luke 22: 39-46

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

• My journey during Lent starts by following Jesus and His habit of going to a place to keep watch and pray.
• To follow Him and His habits, I first need to think that He and the life He leads is wonderful. When I realise that His life is important, and the way He lived it (Rom 5:10), and not only what He taught and the fact that he died, I will want to follow Him.
• His habits help me connect with the power of habits and my own habits.
• I am taken to a place where I gain a deep desire to live like Him, but I realise I can’t do it by myself… He will have to help me.