This season of Lent is an invitation for us to intentionally reflect on our relationship with God, to be honest about who we are, what we’ve done, and what we’ve left undone. It can be daunting to confront the ways we give into temptation, to see where we fall short of God’s glory, to see where we fail to love Jesus and to love as Jesus loves. It would be tragic and defeating to get stuck there, which is why it’s important to remember that we enter the season of Lent already knowing the end of the story. We know that this season leads to Easter. We know that in this wilderness is where we find strength for the journey beyond the wilderness. We know that the thousand deaths we die in confronting our sin and brokenness makes way for an eternity of life in the very presence of God.
Knowing that, we don’t have to enter this season with fear and dread. We can enter it with confidence and hope in God who gives us life, who redeems our life, who sustains our life; confidence and hope in God who shines light into the darkest darkness, who makes all things new, and who brings life out of death.
We desperately want to believe this and yet we are so bombarded by the unrest and uncertainty, by the fear and anxiety in our world, our nation, our church, and our own lives that embracing the season with honesty and surrender, letting go of self and leaning into Jesus seems harder than ever. This may be exactly why it is so vital for us to do so.
I want to encourage you with a blessing from one of my favorite writers.
“Rough Translations”
Hope nonetheless. Hope despite. Hope regardless. Hope still.
Hope where we had ceased to hope. Hope amid what threatens hope. Hope with those who feed our hope. Hope beyond what we had hoped.
Hope that draws us past our limits. Hope that defies expectations. Hope that questions what we have known. Hope that makes a way where there is none.
Hope that takes us past our fear. Hope that calls us into life. Hope that holds us beyond death. Hope that blesses those to come.
—Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace
May hope be your constant companion on this journey!
