Prayer to Get Ready for Lent

God of Mercy,

I can see the purple coming up on the horizon

Like a morning sunrise

Predicting a storm.

It is the early warning of a time of rebirth.

Lent looms like a spring rain.

I can smell it in the air.

My soul waits quietly

For the onset of the change-

Winter death into spring hope.

But, you, O Holy Unseen Season Maker,

Are not content with the warning signs alone.

It is my soul that you want to provoke

Into a willingness to

Receive your purple grace.

Where will you take me?

Lent rain comes to cleanse my heart

Of the dirt and filth of another year

Of the journey.

“Create a clean heart in me, O Lord.”

In these days before the Lent rain

Prepare my ears to hear your words

Of direction and correction.

Soften my spirit so that the rain

May fall deep into my heart. Amen.

-From “Celebrating Saints and Seasons,” by Jeanne Hunt