LIKE A TREE BESIDE THE WATER
In this season of Lent we take time to reflect on our lives, on our mortality and the fragility of life in these bodies of flesh and bone.
It’s a time for reflecting on our shared human condition, for acknowledging our commonalities, for remembering that although we have vastly different experiences of this earthly existence we all live in bodies that come from dust and will one day return to dust.
We also take this time to reflect on the current condition of our souls, contemplating the state of our spiritual lives.
Take a moment to reflect on the following questions and try to identify what resonates with you the most in the season you currently find yourself.
Are you wandering in the desert, dry and weary, searching and longing for rest and relief - experiencing a sort of death, separation? Feeling lonely, forgotten, wounded, wasted?
Are you rooted by the stream, sustained and nourished, flourishing and abiding in the love of Christ - experiencing life and abundance? Feeling fulfillment, peace, overflowing with gratitude and love?
Do you find yourself in a liminal space, experiencing both joys and sorrows, abundance and loss, life and death? Feeling conflicted, restless, complacent, adrift?
It’s important for us to reflect on these things, even if it makes us uncomfortable. To take an honest look at where we are and ask ourselves where we find God in all of it? How is the spirit showing up in our day to day routines? Where do we see Jesus in our interactions with the people who move in and out of our lives on a daily basis? Do we sense the spirit moving in and around us? Do we recognize Jesus in the faces we see, even the one in the mirror?
