What have your first steps out into the wilderness of Lent been like? Halting? Rushed? Afraid you’re going the wrong way already? It can be so easy to get caught up in whether we’re getting it “right”, the whole journey, that we lose sight of what the wilderness time is meant to be—a place of presence, of meeting with God, of being-with our inner spaces that don’t often receive attention in the busyness of ordinary life. As we move further up and further in, this Lent, what would it look like for you to *not* make the season “about” the fast you’ve chosen (or are still working on choosing, in these early hours of the season)? What would it be to let the practices—or lack thereof—be a simple window into your soul and the Spirit there with you? This morning, sit with the beginnings of your Lenten journey into the wilderness alongside Jesus and notice the ways you’re already striving to make something happen, to be on the way to somewhere meaningful. Notice your hopes and your fears in setting out into this season, your desires and the ways you feel like you’re “succeeding” or “failing” at Lent already. Then, let them go, and take another step (or plop down on the edge of the desert if you’re not quite ready to go there yet)! Let yourself in on the reality of your own soul today—since that reality is the one God is in with you, not some aspirational space you imagine for the two of you.

Posted by Jamie Bonilla at 2023-02-23 14:30:40 UTC