Today is ‘Fat Tuesday,’ or in the UK ‘Shrove Tuesday,’ the day to feast and pig-out before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent.  Can you imagine what life would be like if God’s blessings were only temporary? Lent should lead us down the road to change, and not a circle that leads us back to where we were.  His Holiness, the Dali Lama once said, “ We have a largely materialistic lifestyle characterized by a materialistic culture. However, this only provides us with temporary, sensory satisfaction, whereas long-term satisfaction is based not on the senses but on the mind. That’s where real tranquility is to be found. And peace of mind turns out to be a significant factor in our physical health too.”

The Apostle Paul tells us, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phi 2:5-11 NKJ)

So, as we focus our attention on the one who laid aside everything, may God focus our mind on the things that count.