Often the success of a young person in handling the difficult transition from childhood to adulthood  will depend upon what sort of friends and advisors the young person has during the formative period of adolescence.  Good friends and good mentors truly help the young person to realize their gifts and develop them, preparing them for a future of success.  When we hang out with people who truly have our best interests in mind and really care for us then we have a good chance for happiness and success in the future.  If we hang out with people who want to manipulate us, use us, take advantage of us and influence us to do things that we know are not right then this can have disastrous effects upon our hope for the future.  J. R. R. Tolkien illustrated this well in The Lord of the Rings with his story of the King of Rohan, Theodin, who is turned into a weak and ineffective leader by the poisonous whisperings of an evil advisor, Wormtongue.  As long as Wormtongue was in his life King Theodin had no hope of truly fulfilling his duties as the King and leader of Rohan.  I am sure that many of the people that cared about the King would wonder why the King allowed Wormtongue to stay around.  Sometimes we see that with our friends when they begin to hang out with people that are not a good influence on them.  We wonder why they are hanging out with that person and why they can’t see the damage that person does to their lives and their future.  Sometimes it may be a dysfunctional relationship that a person enters into and they cannot see the harm that this person is doing to them or they cannot free themselves from the influence of that person.  Before we can move into a future of hope and realize our full potential we need to confront and overcome the influence of those who would share with us only misery, bitterness, and darkness and surround ourselves with those who have a desire for the good and can help us to realize a vision of hope for the future.

     Today we see that the Spirit that has just entered into Jesus at his baptism drives him out into the desert to be tempted by and confront Satan.  The Spirit is a Spirit of love, power and truth and it realizes that if Jesus is to be successful in his mission of proclaiming the Kingdom of God then he must first confront his adversary Satan and see him for who he truly is.  If Jesus is to have any chance of fulfilling the Father’s will then he must not allow Satan to hang around and work his hatred and darkness on Jesus.  The best way to accomplish this is to confront the evil head on and to expose the lies and manipulations that Satan has planned and see clearly the damage and destruction that they can cause.  In the desert Jesus overcomes the temptations of the lies and hatred of Satan and is ministered to by the angels.  The angels are always near to Jesus to help him in any way and to minister to his real needs.  Jesus is never alone in his trials.

     The Spirit of God also leads us into the desert that is Lent.  We should not see the time of Lent as something that we just wander into or happen upon unprepared.  God’s Spirit leads us into Lent to help us to confront the enemy in our lives and to emerge from the desert with a greater sense of freedom to accomplish the good in our lives and to fulfill God’s will for us.  Too often we allow the demons of sin and temptation to just hang around in our lives and poison our experience of the beauty of our life and journey into God’s kingdom.  During Lent we are led by the Spirit to confront the destructive influence of sin in our life.  In the desert of Lent we are to see that the demons are not our friends and they seek only to use and manipulate us.  During our time in the desert of Lent we discover new friends that are the angels who strengthen us and truly meet our needs in their ministering to us.  During these forty days we are encouraged to shake off our lethargic nature and to rid ourselves of the destructive influences that keep us from serving God.  We are called to see that there are angels all around us, friends and family who truly care for us and want to help us along the way.  Hopefully through our journey in Lent we will come to a greater freedom in our lives to choose real love, to give more freely of ourselves in service and to joyfully embrace our mission to build up the Kingdom of God through gospel living.