Lenten Reflection for February 16th

It’s always a joy to receive a gift that shows the giver put a lot of thought and care into choosing. Sometimes when I receive a useful gift, if I don’t use it right away, I put it away and store it for a while. I might store it for several months and perhaps forget about the gift. When I find it again, I wonder why I had left it for so long when I could have been using it the whole time.

The gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit are meant to be useful to our lives, which we need to ‘open’ to fully experience. Praying and discerning over these gifts can help us to sense where the Lord is working in our lives, how He wants to mold our hearts for His will. 

In the Scriptures, we are encouraged in several places to seek out Wisdom. The benefits of pursuing Wisdom are listed especially in the book of Proverbs, 

“…you will understand righteousness and justice

    and equity, every good path;for wisdom will come into your heart,

    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul…” (Proverbs 2:9-10)

I’ve read a description that says, ‘’Wisdom is a gift that allows a person to understand things from God's point of view. In other words, Wisdom allows a person to recognize truth’’, Perhaps this is why Wisdom is emphasized throughout the Scriptures so many times, a gift that allows us to know truth and to walk even more closely with our Heavenly Father! 

During Lent, I pray we can have the wisdom to not set these gifts aside, but to seek and grow in them over the next few weeks. 

God bless you.