What is the Meet Me in the Middle Project?
These images and post were first published in 2015 on brittalafont.com
Don’t we all love a good “before and after” story? A kitchen makeover, bathroom renovation, weight loss transformation, or a hair-do re-do. We want messes cleaned up. We want what is broken to be fixed. We long for peace when there is chaos.
When our “before” feels like a big old mess,
we long for our “after” to get here,
and get here quick.
What if the mess is in our hearts? So many of us ache from living under the pressures of our own failures, shortcomings, and downfalls. What if we are living with a “Before” that we just don’t see any progress in?
What if the mess is a relationship? A forsaken friendship, a wayward child, a painful marriage all demonstrate our need for reconciliation, relief, remedy, redemption…our need for a Savior.
Jesus came to do all this. He is doing all this now, though we may not see.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
Isaiah 51:1-3, ESV
Lent is the season of remembering—reflecting on how Christ entered into history to bring peace—recalling that He knows what it is like to stand on the edge of “Before” (Mark 14:32-42). Lent is a season of repentance—grieving over our mess, taking our “Before,” and entrusting it to God.
Easter is the celebration of Christ’s victory over sin and death; it is the biggest “After” because it changed everything. Easter demonstrates that God makes good on the promise of the “After.”
When we see a Before and After,
let’s celebrate how God is at work in the middle!
Let’s proceed through Lent with our eye on Easter. Let’s make this season about celebrating HOPE in the middle: we can trust God with the “After” that we need in those broken places. Lent is the reminder that, when we are in a deep dark place, stuck in the middle of a mess, God’s plan is still being carried out. We are here to document that work—to curate Truth.
#MeetMeintheMiddleProj