As I walked into the woods on my Ash Wednesday retreat last week I was dazzled by droplets of water shimmering all around me.  Here I was entering the Lenten desert and everything in creation sang to me of viriditas, or the greening power of God.  Life was exploding forth before me in this damp forest, the air heavy with moisture, the ground springing beneath my feet.  When I saw the leaf in the bottom photo with its offering of holy water, I remembered my own baptism.  Lent is deeply connected to baptism.  Jesus went out into the desert after he was

There’s a really deep well inside me. And in it dwells God. Sometimes I am there, too. But more often stones and grit block the well, and God is buried beneath. Then (God) must be dug out again. -Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life Lent is often associated with the desert, for good reason.  The desert figures prominently in the scriptures as a place of testing and refining.  Lent is a time when we consciously let go of those things or habits that take our attention away from the sacred presence that is always among us.  Some people focus more energy