Lent Day 28 | 40 to Life

A Pace Lenten Reflection
Saturday 2 April 2022
The Journey with Jesus

Hi Redeemer Family, I’m Allison Pace. Welcome back to our Lenten Reflection series 40 to Life–today is the fifth Saturday in Lent. 

I want to try something a little different for today’s reflection…so at this time I invite you to close your eyes. 

Now, imagine a moment in your life where you have felt or experienced complete and utter chaos…

Perhaps it was a time in your life where you weren’t sure of the direction in which something would go…perhaps you felt distant from your work, your family, maybe even God…perhaps this time in your life involved people you weren’t expecting. 

As you sit here and hold and imagine this time in your life, I invite you to intentionally listen and inwardly digest these words from Mary Oliver’s poem “The Journey.” 

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice‚
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations–
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen 

branches and stones. 

But little by little,
as you left their voices behind, 

the stars began to burn 

through the sheets of clouds, 

and there was a new voice

which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save. 

As you begin to open your eyes, I invite you to imagine how that chaotic situation or experience ended. Did you experience some kind of reconciliation, or healing or unconditional love, or better yet, did you experience resurrection?

Lent is about taking a deep look at the chaos in our lives and how that steers us away from God. This poem from Mary Oliver reminds us that even in the midst of chaos, we can always find our way back to God–if we have a heart full of steadfast hope, then unconditional love, and resurrection are always possible. 

And, so today, spend some time with the chaotic experience you had in your life–ponder how this experience changed your life…wonder about how Jesus journeyed with you during this time…and reflect on the ways in which this experience brought about reconciliation, healing, love, or better yet, resurrection.