I woke up while it was still dark this morning, my body refusing to return to sleep, twisting, turning from one side to the other, pulsing with pain. So through my restless, blinking, squinting eyes, I watched the sunrise. I watched Easter slowly dawn. I remembered the darkness of the night, the empty grave that […]
Lent is: failing.
It’s Holy Saturday. I’m keeping my room dark, my curtains drawn, this morning. To remember the darkness, the darkness of this day so long ago. All hope seemed lost. All hearts withdrawn. Words spoken so long ago—burned onto our hearts—seem silent now, gone with the one we buried. Even the miraculous of yesterday—the torn curtain, […]
Lent is: hoping.
How do you stay hopeful? a friend asked me this week. The question caught me off guard at first, wondering if I truly was hoping through a rough week of pain and restlessness. So I was as honest as I could be with her: It’s been hard. So hard. I think I’ve mostly tried to […]
Lent is: admitting need.
Oh how I need you to refresh me: body-soul-spirit. Apart from you I’m nothing: a disciple-discontent. Sad and downcast Slow to learn: slower still to act. Oh how I need you to just be here: with me. It’s 11 AM and I’m back in bed, exhausted, restless, and hurting. My body is burnt out, and […]
Lent is: leaning in.
The early-sun stills my heart to sit, this “making room” leftover from Advent, is now giving birth to Lent— a new season to contemplate the old, a season of dawn: of all of our hopes, retold. But first, it’s dark and the way is long the lengthening of days piling up in fog over my […]
His faithfulness is all we need.
After a heavy-handed fight with a deep dose of guilt— and the gift of a timely, encouraging word from a friend about God being faithful to the promise He gives, even if it looks different than what we expect, my reply landed at this: “His faithfulness is all we need.” Everyone else will—at some point […]