As always, weather remains one of the top three conversation starters in Saskatchewan, and this past week has been no exception to the rule. We have a folklore saying that if March comes like a lamb, it will go out like a lion, or vice versus if the weather is more brutal. What I have always gleaned from this saying is not so much a direct prediction that if March comes exceedingly mild that it will end with a vicious storm on March 31st. Now it is possible that it will happen exactly this way, and you will think, "Just goes to show that this fellow knows nothing of what he talks about!" No, my sense of this little saying is that we should be lulled into thinking that winter is over and spent, and that it will be mild weather all the way to the end of the month, with no storms in between. Or conversely, if the weather is bad on March 1st, that it will be thus to the end. If anything, March is really a mixed bag of weather.

Biblically, I recognize that one of Jacob's son, Judah, is referred to as a lion. But for the most part the lion was feared as a ferocious foe and enemy who could do great damage and harm. Spiritually, we are now in the Lenten season, when we are called to do battle with the spiritual opponents and enemies, temptations and sins, and by our reliance on the Holy Spirit through prayer and other disciplines, to receive the strength of Christ to overcome them. By identifying and naming the exact nature of our temptations and sins, we are better equipped spiritually to do battle against them.