All wildernesses, and all of us, are all just made of dust.
But if God can take mere dust and make whole constellations of stars, can He not take our crises of sorrow, and miraculously make even us brilliant and whole?
I’ve been thinking about this for days, after we had dinner with my dearest friend, Ruth, in these days when all kinds of hopes seem to be eroding, when plans and expectations keep crumbling away:
Life is all wilderness paths of dust, from all the fragility of living – yet all these paths of dust are literal ways to deeper trust — to enter into the miracle of what God can shape from dust.
It does something in you – to relax into being dust – and trust that surrendered dust is the stuff God’s dreams are made of.
All wildernesses, and all of us – are all just made of dust. But if if God can take mere dust and make whole constellations of stars, can He not take our crises of sorrow, and miraculously make even us brilliant and whole?
I linger with Ruth long after our family dinner together– and we talk about being mamas to a lot of kids, being wives, being daugthers of our Abba Father, and we talk about our journey’s through wildernesses.
And yet, this too, keeps reorienting me through every wildernesses:
Maybe the way Jesus could bear going into the barren wilderness for 40 days was only because God had just bathed him in baptismal waters, and marked Him with that name: BELOVED.
In a loud world, you can only know the way through your wildernesses if your name echoes within: Beloved.
The only way to move through your wildernesses is to not resist any of the unexpected turns, for this is God, moving closer, to woo you.
And I believe this, feel this, in my wildernesses:
If your heart is cracked and hard as the dry wilderness floor, and you can’t quite yet soak in your very name, your sure identity, your actual belovedness – then just one small step forward, after another very small step toward Him, will soften you, open you, flourish you into all you truly already are.
Maybe our greatest crises aren’t the wilderness we find ourselves in – but that we don’t believe we are wildly loved in the midst of them?
Maybe our greatest crisis – is always a love-crisis?
In a loud world, you can only know the way through your wildernesses if your name echoes within: Beloved.
had asked Ruth that, and we had discussed: If you had to name the biggest love-crisis in our moment—what’s breaking down: our attention, our empathy, our patience, our courage, our truthfulness? What does it mean to love — not with sentiment, but with cruciform, Kingdom love — in a world that’s training us toward self-protection, outrage, and hurry?
What’s your most honest answer to: ‘I want to love like Jesus, but I’m exhausted’? If love is patient and kind, what do you do with your own impatience—especially with your family? If our love is sustained by abiding, what does it mean to abide in Jesus’ love in a world designed to hijack attention?
And then as the calendar turns to these early days of this season before Resurrection Sunday, this season of Lent, and I think about what Jesus might be asking me to fast from, to become more like Him… and all I can think is:
Maybe what Lent most asks us to give up — is to give up all of ourself to Love Himself. To give up whatever is in the way of giving ourselves fully to Jesus. To be a giver — and give ourselves wholly to Jesus, Love Himself, and then live given, because Love always lives given, reaching out with love to those around us.
And ….
Maybe the secret way out of every single wilderness – is to actually feel really, deeply, loved. All barrenness blooms when it experiences belovedness.
This far into the year, this far into life’s journey, and at this point in Lent, and our pilgrimage, through all kinds of wildernesses, this may be all I know:
Though yesterday is history, and tomorrow is a wilderness of mystery, this present moment always holds the gift of the knowing: His name is always Love, and my name is always Beloved.
Though yesterday is history, and tomorrow is a wilderness of mystery, this present moment always holds the gift of the knowing: His name is always Love, and my name is always Beloved.
All that always survives fire – is love.
I leave Ruth a long voice message for her dusty paths, and Ruth loans me words and courage for my own wildnernesses… and come Ash Wednesday, I’m deeply anticipating all that is to come down these dusty roads….
So mark us with ashes, mark us with the soot of all the world that’s burning down, mark us with that smudge of ashes and know, that though we’ve been seared by flames and fears, though we’ve been scorched by shame and heartache and scars — our souls survive fire, because we are marked by Love, for Love… and the One who came through the fire, names us Beloved, and we are His, and He is ours forever, and so with Him, we can do nothing less than rise.
All else may burn up – but His love survives fire, and it’s His love that marks us.
So on every ash heap — see our hearts ignite.
Want to come up to our Church BellTower. & join our convo about How To Really Feel Loved, with Ruth Cho Simons?
| Might I offer a glimpse of what our deeply meaningful 40 days ahead together might look like? —> A daily audio clip where I’ll quietly read Scripture with you, as we journey through the Gospel of John together, walking every step with Jesus: listening to the testimony of “the one whom Jesus loved” – as we lean into Jesus, and feel how deeply loved we are – beyond imagining! —> As you listen, consider hanging your corresponding Easter Tree Ornament as you listen (more about that below!). A beautifully designed reflection from Loved to Life — an invitation to meditate, perhaps save it to your phone and return to it throughout the day. Allow Love Himself to meet you as begin to let the tender places in you feel the depth of His unconditional love for you… —> Our weekly Real Love Memory Verse. Throughout the next 40 days, we’ll memorize what Love truly is, from one of the most powerful, needful Scriptures in the whole of the Bible: 1 Corinthians 13. During the next 40 days, we are going to truly feel love and truly be love. —> Your own Visual Love Pilgrimage — an immersive experience of masterful art, Scripture, journaling, and prayer, where you can gaze at a classic work of art while considering the Love of Christ. Spend a few times looking at the art, undistracted, and use the journaling prompts to help you see and experience Love more deeply and clearly. —> And a daily Identity in Christ affirmation, with a whole set of 24 cards you can print, to begin to feel how loved and cherished you and who you really are in Christ – nothing has changed me like knowing who I am in Christ … beloved! —> And each Sunday evening of our 40-Day Pilgrimage? Lord willing, we’ll gather together, you and I, face-to-face! Yes, Weekly Livestream Community gatherings are back! Let’s let go of all kinds of lonely feelings, and our sense of isolation, and together connect, in face-to-face moments of encouragement, prayer, and wisdom, with very special guests every week! Would you love to feel really loved – and really be love? I will personally ensure you’ll get all of this beauty each day, tucked with all my love, right into your hands… just click here… |
Would you join me for the next 40 days of REALLY LIVING LOVED?
