Lent

But when the crowd gets too raucous, when the parade is bumping, when the praise gets to be too much and too risky, what happens?

It’s lavish. It’s illogical. It’s unearned — and that’s precisely the point.

Even when it seems like the tree is doing nothing at all, the gardener still understands the tree to be worthy of care, of nourishment, of tending, of love.

He’s essentially saying, “I will care for you with the ferocity and strength of a mother."

So I wonder — like those tortilla chips at the start of a meal that leave you full but still so empty, as we begin this season of Lent — I wonder what for you could be filling you up but still leaving you empty?