Since Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, we may have been wrestling with what to "give up" or what to "take on" during this season of penitence.

Whatever we decide to do or not to do, this is a time of change, of movement, of going from what we are to the place or condition where we want to be. In the Old Testament lesson, Abram heard the call of God to move to a new land, and we can only wonder at the strength of that call. What would it take to get us to move to a new land? Moving from an old place to a new place in our spiritual lives may be what we are called to do, and such a move will require an act of will, too. What will it take to get us to make that move?

Jesus says to Nicodemus, "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. 

So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Abram must have heard the "sound of the Spirit", and he picked up all his family and possessions and went where that sound led him. The Gospel of John doesn't tell us what happened to Nicodemus at that point in time, but he, too, must have moved to new places, because he appears again to help with preparations when Jesus is lifted down from the cross. As we move deeper into Lent, it is time to begin our journey, and who knows where it will lead?