“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” Psalm 51:1,2
It is Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten Season 2011. Once again I hear the call to turn aside and to take inventory. I sense the need to stop, to regroup, to reflect, to gather myself together. I realize that I have walked a bit since last year and I fear that some key pieces, essential parcels may have been lost along the way. Maybe not, but when you are this disheveled it’s hard to know whether something is lost or buried in a fold in the bottom of your bag. What I do recognize is that this is a good place and time to check. The One who has beckoned me to come near before is somewhere close, close enough that I can smell his presence though I can not yet see his form.
This rock seems fine. Sturdy. I need sturdy things about now. So I sit. And begin to unpack. It may take a while. Probably a month and some days. Hopefully along the way I will experience the emptying out, the lightening of the load, the release of unhealthy and un-wholly ideas, perspectives, behaviors to make the next leg of this journey… well, to make it. Hopefully, I will answer the call to come away and be changed by what happens when I do. But first things first. I must first simply turn aside.
Becoming... 