Transitions Are Messy (03/14/2024)

I am not sure why, but most every year I find that the week of transition to Daylight Savings Time is a train wreck for me. I can’t seem to make the turn without incident. I am usually “off” all week. This year has been no exception. I have been more tired, more distracted, less focused. And last evening it hit a crescendo. When I got to the parish center for faith formation for 6th graders from 6-7:15 and then for Confirmation candidates from 7:15-8:30, I realized I did not have the class notes for the second group. I frantically called my husband and begged for his help. The loving trooper that he is, he found what I’d left at home and brought it to me without complaint. I owe him. Transitions are messy.

Our Lenten journeys are also about transitions from the ones who received ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday to the jubilant believers on Easter morning. The journey requires us to turn, to change, to make real choices that tenderize us to make us more receptive to the transformative love of our Savior. The journey asks us to turn, to change, to choose life. But there are so many distractions, so many ways that we are tempted daily, so many opportunities to choose the wrong turns. Our Lenten journeys will be messy because change is messy. But it is worth it.

What do we do when we fail? What do we do when we get to a point, and we realize we’ve strayed? We reach out to for help. Last night I was fortunate to have my husband come to my rescue. On our Lenten journey, it is the LORD who will come to our aid. But we must acknowledge we’ve strayed, and we must seek help.  “Help me, LORD” is a great beginning.

We are in the fourth week of Lent. Perhaps you are one of those steady runners. To you, I say, keep going. It may not look like you will ever reach the point to which you race, but you will. And if you are like me who always functions best under pressure, I say, the clock is ticking. You have time, and He who created it will help you use it if you turn to Him and ask.

Transitions are messy. Turning and changing can be messy. Salvation history has been messy. Don’t give up. Persist in faith with real and buoyant hope fueled by the LORD’s love for us that stirs within us and calls us to turn to Him in whom we live and move and have our being. And don’t be afraid to cry out for help, “I do believe, help my unbelief.”

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.