Thank you for joining us! Before we begin our devotional, I wanted to share a Comment Highlight from last week:
Nina commented on our Big Book, Little Book devotional:
'“The ‘Big Book’ metaphor really resonates with me. I just returned from driving 3000 miles along the West coast of the U.S. (from Seattle to Phoenix and back), and seeing the snow-covered mountains, rich green farmland, and rejuvenated forest fire areas (at 80 mph with the windows down and CD playing) felt like church. It was certainly a spiritual experience, rich with opportunity for prayer and reflection. Thanks for your post this week, which is very timely for me.”
Such a beautiful reflection, Nina! Thank you so much for sharing with us!
If you want to be featured in next week’s Comment Highlight, all you have to do is post a comment on any of this week’s posts or threads. That’s it!
Now, on with this week’s devotional…
somewhere along the path back there I lost my lenten senses; I forgot to look for new life I forgot to scent the air for blossoms this ancient path has cracks and gaps and twists and turns and darkened ways but the God of life still seeks and finds me here.
So then, my friends, as Holy Week shimmers on the horizon: how is your Lenten season going?
Oh, what a question! I can feel my own skin crawling, hoping you won’t turn the same question back on me.
The days are getting a little warmer around here, the rain and sun are at odds with one another, and there is a lot more green. Spring is awake, but in so many ways Easter feels miles away, still. In the midst of daily life and current events and the constant cycle of news, I am not as sure about Lent now as I was when it started.
Why are you still here? I want to ask. Shoo, now, and let me have my springtime in peace!
But Lent—her face solemn as the moon, her hair adorned with daffodils and muscari, her presence smelling of pollen and ashes—shakes her head at me, and may very well at you, too, and says, No. I remain.
So then, what shall we do? We frail human beings reach peaks and valleys in our pilgrimages through Lent. And yet, she remains. She hasn’t gone anywhere. She has not been dismissed. At least, not yet.
This week, if we are beginning to resist, to wane, to falter in our observance of Lent…if we have sat by the roadside for the last few days, or weeks, complaining that the snacks we packed for our pilgrimage have run out…if have been trying to shoo Lent away from our doorsteps, our workplaces, the roofs of our cars, the hems of our raincoats…
…then maybe it’s time to remember why we did this in the first place. Let’s regroup. Let’s refocus. Let’s take a cue from the new moon and, instead of fading away completely into nothing, begin to wax, again. Brighten, again.
Get off the roadside. Repack the pilgrim bag. Move over and let Lent back in.
Did this piece resonate with you? Take a moment to share it!
If you enjoy this piece, please let me know by tapping the heart to like, comment with your thoughts, share with someone you think will enjoy it, and subscribe to get instant access to my future work right to your inbox. Blessings!
This is so good. Hits very close to home for me.