Tag Archives: Jeremiah 29

Lenten Calendar: Unfinished

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“So, you’re a background singer in your own life?

Why’re you in the background?

…

You gotta let the lies go

and let your hope grow.”

— Kim B. Miller, “Lies”

Face (Claude) Henri Matisse

Face (Claude) – Henri Matisse

I find a lot of hope in being unfinished — a work in progress. When things aren’t working out as planned, well, the story isn’t over yet. It helps me extend grace to others, but especially myself — there’s less pressure to be perfect or have it all figured out.

Sometimes I have to ask myself, though, why is that part of my life or myself so underdeveloped? Why is it just roughed in? A sketch I’m in no hurry to finish? What fears and lies are keeping me from committing the time and focus it would take to fill in the features? It’s safer to be all potential, even if that means squandering it, but God has hopes, dreams, plans, and work for our completed selves. What is one step toward that future self you’ve been avoiding for fear of mistakes? What if we accepted the possibility of imperfection along the way to being made perfect?

Lenten Calender: Star-stuff

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Saltwater by Finn Butler

poem and photo by Finn Butler

Remember you are dust. That we are all dust. That we are each made of the same earthy, elemental, universal stuff that God has seen fit to bring to life. That we are all mortal and responsible for not quenching the divine Spirit in our own or in anyone else’s frail earthen vessel.

It may feel like we’re made of dry clay and only held together by sweat and tears, but it is just as true to say that we are made of the sea and stars, hand-crafted by a loving God, and set spinning with a will and a purpose. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Purposes come in all shapes and sizes. What is one thing you know that you have been set in place to do? Set aside some time today or this weekend to pursue it with a will and a purpose, in a spirit of hope and with a mind set on the future.