John the baptized appeared in the wilderness,  preaching a baptism of redemption. Mark 1:4

Looking at Stars, Jane Kenyon
The God of curved space, the dry

God, is not going to help us, but the son

whose blood spattered

the hem of his mother’s robe.

Some say: the way up is the way down
Others say: the way down is the way up
We also hear: live deep enough and there is only one direction

You can’t cnvceive, my child, nor can I or anyone, the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God. Graham Greene

Lent is a season of recollection, reflection and preparation.
During these 40 days of Lent, let’s allow ourselves to be known.
It’s a time to ask God to show us what we really look like.
We find God in ourselves and we find ourselves in God.

Teresa of Avila

Lent challenge: Get rid of 40 things in 40 days

A Lenten invitation…

The Ballad of Readin Gaol
…And thus we rust Life’s iron chain
Degraded and alone:
And some men curse, and some men weep,
And some men make no moan:
But God’s eternal Laws are kind
And break the heart of stone.

And every human heart that breaks,
In prison-cell or yard,
Is as that broken box that gave
It’s treasure to the Lord,
And filled the unclean lepers house
With the scent of costliest nard.

Ah! Happy those whose hearts can break
And peace of pardon win!
How else may man make straight his plan
And cleanse his soul from Sin?
How else but through a broken heart
May Lord Christ enter in?

Dust. 

You are dust, and to dust you shall return. Genesis 3:19

We are beloved dust.

Our love 

Should not be just words and talk;

It must be true love,

Which shows itself in action.

1 John 3:18

…from newly freed Hebrew slaves in exile to Jesus temptation in the desert…to our own wanderings and struggles in everyday life.

Lent is the time for recollection and  reflection as we walk the way of grace.

Modified from Walter Brueggemann