When Lent looks like a broken finger
I tap and type away here with 7 fingers. Two are bandaged together on my dominant hand rendering my pinky useless while typing. Slow and thoughtful goes my typing and slow and thoughtful goes my heart.
Yesterday marks the first day of Lent and with that we marked our foreheads with ashes in the shape of a cross.
This day snuck up on us this year. The past few years, I have thoughtfully prayed and chosen a way to embrace Lent either through the giving up of something (like food) or the taking on of something (like silence) in order to draw closer to God, to remember the sacrifice of Christ, and to make room for the Holy Spirit to speak. But I found myself coming up empty handed this year.
Last night, we sang songs, lit candles, laughed, confessed, and reflected in our warm living room- a haven from the whipping wind and icy temperatures. We wrote out confessions on paper and burned them together in a bucket, slowly mixing water into it to make the ashes with which we marked our foreheads. Beauty in quiet. Joy in mourning. Freedom in confession.
Yesterday also marks the day of my first broken bone. The middle finger on my right hand- my dominant hand.
Slow and thoughtful. I slowly slip my hands into my jacket. I slowly and awkwardly scrub dishes with my left hand. I slowly and painfully tie my shoes together. I bend my body into a funny position so I can crank the car on with my left hand.
I have actually been trying to make conscious choices to slow down- but this one- no, not this one.
The kind doctor showed me the x-rays and there it was- a clean fracture in the bone.
Today, I contemplate Lent and I contemplate my broken bone. I feel moved in my spirit to choose praise even if it doesn't come naturally today.
I come across this phrase Adoration: inhaling his word and exhaling praise and my heart skips a beat. Oh yes. This is Lent for me. Choosing adoration. I stumbled upon these scriptures of adoration and read today's verse in Psalm 8:
Who am I to compare, to complain, to worry, to fear? Who am I that you are mindful of me? And He is so mindful of us.
While my fingers are breaking, his finger is setting stars in the skies. I may have accidentally broken my finger chasing down our new pup in the neighbors yard while I cursed, cried, and shook, but He purposefully left the heavens to come down to earth to chase us down and allowed his body to break and blood to be spilled for us. And He did it all in love. Because he is a good, good God.
Yesterday marks the first day of Lent and with that we marked our foreheads with ashes in the shape of a cross.
This day snuck up on us this year. The past few years, I have thoughtfully prayed and chosen a way to embrace Lent either through the giving up of something (like food) or the taking on of something (like silence) in order to draw closer to God, to remember the sacrifice of Christ, and to make room for the Holy Spirit to speak. But I found myself coming up empty handed this year.
Last night, we sang songs, lit candles, laughed, confessed, and reflected in our warm living room- a haven from the whipping wind and icy temperatures. We wrote out confessions on paper and burned them together in a bucket, slowly mixing water into it to make the ashes with which we marked our foreheads. Beauty in quiet. Joy in mourning. Freedom in confession.
Yesterday also marks the day of my first broken bone. The middle finger on my right hand- my dominant hand.
Slow and thoughtful. I slowly slip my hands into my jacket. I slowly and awkwardly scrub dishes with my left hand. I slowly and painfully tie my shoes together. I bend my body into a funny position so I can crank the car on with my left hand.
I have actually been trying to make conscious choices to slow down- but this one- no, not this one.
The kind doctor showed me the x-rays and there it was- a clean fracture in the bone.
Today, I contemplate Lent and I contemplate my broken bone. I feel moved in my spirit to choose praise even if it doesn't come naturally today.
I come across this phrase Adoration: inhaling his word and exhaling praise and my heart skips a beat. Oh yes. This is Lent for me. Choosing adoration. I stumbled upon these scriptures of adoration and read today's verse in Psalm 8:
Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!....
how majestic is your name in all the earth!....
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
While my fingers are breaking, his finger is setting stars in the skies. I may have accidentally broken my finger chasing down our new pup in the neighbors yard while I cursed, cried, and shook, but He purposefully left the heavens to come down to earth to chase us down and allowed his body to break and blood to be spilled for us. And He did it all in love. Because he is a good, good God.
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