There is no doubt that spring has sprung here in the Valley of the Sun. Today we were in the ’80s and I came within 15 minutes of turning on the A/C for the first time this year. The backyard is thick with the scent of flowers from the lime and lemon tree and dozens of bees frantically swarm around from flower to flower doing their thing.

I’m glad Lent is almost here because spiritually I’ve had a very tough Epiphany season. In today’s Gospel reading Mark tells of Jesus and Peter, James, and John coming down from the mountain after his transfiguration event only to find the other disciples struggling to expel a demon from a man’s child. It’s interesting how Jesus seems put out with the whole scene, saying in effect, “how much longer must I have to deal with all this nonsense!”, until he realizes that this is no ordinary demon, and it takes even Him a little effort to finally rid the child of his possession once and for all. When his disciples ask him later why they couldn’t expel the demon on their own, Jesus tells them that this particular circumstance required not just faith but prayer.

Me, I’m surrounded by demons, all of which seem determined to keep my mind firmly in the world and away from heavenly things. Because of work I’ve barely been able to keep up a regular prayer regimen, and it’s difficult to separate one’s self from the cares and occupations of this worlf sufficiently to set one’s mind on prayer. The demons like that.

I think for Lent I’m going back to basics and read Henri Nouwen’s marvelous classic “The Genesee Diary: Report from a Trappist Monastery”. It was the very first “spiritual” book I read after my conversion experience fourteen years ago, and everything I am – warts and all – has been touched in some way by this book since. Nouwen has his own demons to face – I think they’re very different from mine, but who knows, maybe not? Maybe the demons we all face have something in common, in that they’re nothing more than manifestations of our own desires as to what we want God to be, as opposed to what God wants us to be.

Sounds like a long journey of understanding to me….