"Stepping Out into Lent"

It is my wilderness …

a place to which I am being led.

These are my ‘forty days’…

yes, my ‘forty days’ 

to endure and to seek,

to trust and to pray,

to be surrounded by

very tending angels.

       

It is my aloneness,

and wilderness and ‘forty days’.

I would hope that

you too might allow it 

if and when it comes …

for there is a Holy Presence here.

      

 The wilderness is born

 out of a great silence 

 that hopes for a sudden glimpse

 of God in worship

 when all others around me

 are following their worship bulletins

 so carefully … so dutifully … 

 so worshipfully … so very well.

It is my wilderness.

It is I who sing the hymns,

with parched lips.

It is I who reaches out for the morsels

that the Spirit hands to me

when I am so malnourished.

It is my wilderness.

It is I who listen for shouts 

yet am satisfied

with holy whispers.

It is my response to God to live into,

not others to discourage.

The words, “Get thee behind me….”

are on my lips, on guard and ready

for one more attempt 

to change direction.

It was my wilderness, 

… my ‘forty days’

… my seeking, 

… my journey, 

… Your leading.

Holy One, you are in it all

and in that, I do trust

these unknown steps

during these forty days.

Amen.