Realizing change has come – February 21

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:49-72; PM Psalm 49, [53]
Gen. 37:25-36; 1 Cor. 2:1-13; Mark 1:29-45

Yesterday I grabbed a bite to eat at the local Chick-Fil-A, since the lunch I prepared for myself was safely stowed in the refrigerator at home. As I sat in quiet for a few minutes before the bustling afternoon and evening ahead, I observed two moms with young kids near the enclosed playroom. One of the little girls was singing loudly for all in the restaurant to hear: “For the first time in forever…for the first time in forever…for the first time in forever…nothing’s in my hair!”

I recognized the tune and chuckled, though I could not see the face of the child belting out lyrics to the 2013 Disney film “Frozen”. (And for those wondering, the final line of that song is actually, “Nothing’s in my way!”)

Sam and I spent many hours seeking a tiny break while our kids (now 12 and 8) worked out energy on a cold day in these indoor jungle gyms. Sitting there, I felt that I was crossing a threshold. No longer do I intentionally seek out a space like this and wait for my kids in the tiny play place, watching their little hands pressing on the glass door at 28 inches above the floor. There is some sadness in this realization. And freedom. And gratitude. Perhaps many of you reading this have already passed this mile marker on the wayfarers’ route of parenting. You may have told others that these moments will come…the breaths of recognition when time is fleeting and the tenderness of today is passing away, yet still tangled up with never-ending struggles. It is in these moments of clarity that we each can savor the breaks between the crashing waves.

In the Old Testament reading for today, we catch a snippet of the saga surrounding Joseph and the tension with his brothers, who plot to sell him into slavery as they seek in jealousy to remove him from their family (Genesis 37:25-36). The brothers bring a tattered robe dipped in goat’s blood to their father Jacob, who cries out that his beloved son Joseph must have perished in an animal attack. He mourned the loss of his son deeply. We know how this story ends – with Joseph rising in the ranks of Pharaoh’s inner circle. With his brothers humbly seeking aid in a famine. With God’s grace and reconciling love reconnecting Jacob with his son Joseph and the other sons. But in this moment, we find Jacob sitting at a threshold, realizing that the love and joy of the past is now changed. His realization is profoundly painful – and infinitely more extreme than a mundane a-ha at a local fast-food establishment in 2024.

Regardless of the magnitude of threshold, the stories of our Bible and the stories of our lives in faith reiterate for us that God is in each movement and breath. How grand and how precious it is to behold this reality. We are never far from God, and yet we are often far from comprehending God. Perhaps we each need reminders of this today, for there are times when God feels so far from us.

In Kate Bowler’s Lenten reflection for today, she offers this blessing…and I pass it along to you:

God of all that we hardly notice,

ruler of the ground under our feet

and the sky stretched over our heads.

Send your spirit to direct our steps and our thoughts

as we stumble around this day and night.

My prayers are with you this Lent,

Katherine+

Reflection and Challenge

Pay attention to threshold moments this week. Make note. Journal about where God is in this space. Sit in silence. Pray prayers of mourning, gratitude, guidance, or healing. Ask someone about their threshold realizations and share this holy space.