Lent

Good bye cookies
Good bye gum
Good bye fast food
Good by to some
vanilla latte and mocha mint.

Good bye Baby Jesus
Good bye Temple Boy
Good bye to the baptized Son -
Father's pride and joy.

Lent is here, am I up to the challenge
of watching the Beloved
Suffer His fate?

Hello early morning reading
and silent prayer
Hello sense of powerlessness
To the question, "If I were there..."

Would I follow Him through days that were
hot and hazy
On lakeshores and hillsides?
Would I worry and wonder and think He was crazy?

I will wonder, and I'll ponder
as I read more of the preacher
Read of the miracles, read of the teacher.

I'll cry and I'll question and I'll read of His dying.
I'll feel the pain and the sorrow,
I won't read ahead. It's Lent.