Lent Meditation: Day 8 - February 25, 2026

📖 Scripture Verse

“In the morning, while it was still very dark, [Jesus] got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” Mark 1:35

🕯️Meditation

Again Jesus is in the wilderness.  This time, not to be tested, but to pray.  The ministry of Jesus in Mark’s gospel is fast paced, full of healings, exorcisms, and teaching, and yet Jesus here before it all begins, while it is still dark, prays in a lonely place.  The season of Lent is an invitation to us to move our lives closer to Jesus, and to model ourselves after his godly life.  The intense, heavily scheduled, driving energy of our lives pressures us relentlessly. Taking time to go to quiet places and talk with God in prayer can feel like a burden, like one more thing on a to-do list.  It can even set us up for feelings of failure when we don’t pray that can drive us from a close relationship with God and make us want to pray even less.

Perhaps you struggle to find time to be alone with God.  Let this Lent be an invitation to you to try again: five minutes in a quiet room where you tell God what worries you and ask for him to watch over those close to you, and the Lord’s Prayer—while you sip your morning coffee.  Perhaps close your eyes for two minutes at the end of this meditation and breathe deeply and ask God to be with you and to encourage you.  Begin again with prayer.  Each moment is an invitation to come closer to God.

🙏 Prayer

Gracious Father, I know you hear me when I pray even when I have not prayed often or have forgotten you for a long time.  Hear me now, and help me grow into a deeper friendship with your Son Jesus. Amen.

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