The word “Lent” actually literally means Springtime, the perfect season for renewal! Here’s Sister Mary’s mid-week pick-me-up for the “mini-retreat” that will refresh your soul throughout Lent. Here’s a list of all of the weeks’ posts. (And thanks for the photo, Sister Mary Jane Wallace!)
By Sister Mary Core, OSB
Imagine yourself flying through the air on a trapeze bar. Another bar swings forward. You grab it, but don’t let go of the original bar now behind you. You freeze mid-point, neither moving forward nor backward.
In a word, you’re stuck.
I love this image when considering this message: “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not. See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19)
In other words, let go to move forward.
I remember a poster from several years ago that said, “Not to decide, is to decide!” It is certainly true.
God offers us a path forward, but leaves the decision in our hands. We have free will. What will we do with it?
Yes, it seems that God is inviting us to reach forward, to risk, to trust, to believe, to be courageous, and to grab hold of that “something new” held in store for us.
In God’s own words, it will spring forth. If we are vigilant, we will perceive it!
Back to the trapeze image: you reach for the next bar, let go of the original bar and fall, remember God is your safety net! God doesn’t expect us to get it right the first or even every time. You’re in good hands!
Questions for reflection…
1. What are some new things springing forth in you? What are you are perceiving?
2. Have there been times when you had one hand in the past and one in the future, unable to let go of
either?
3. Can you identify what keeps you from risking? Trusting? Believing?
4. What images work for as you hear God’s voice say, “Let go of the past. Reach out and grasp your future!”
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