Reflection
Eve and Adam reached for the fruit on the tree.
Sin is the human creature seeking control.
Refusing limitation.
Striving to be the divine.
In lieu of giving thanks for our humanity.
Reaching for power and control, we harm one another.
Corporations dehumanize their hires.
Nations build and deploy weapons of violence.
The antidote to sin, is not merely forgiveness.
It is awareness of human limitation.
That is why these forty days of returning to God
begin with remembrance.
You are dust.
To dust you will return.
We will all someday, die.
My parents visited me this week.
All my life, I have seen them age.
And they have seen me live now forty years.
We reflected on our lives.
The changes, the moves,
the will power, the convictions.
And still yet,
our self-deceptions.
We all think
we are in control
and so we reach.
But brother,
so little actually is.
Repentance is not only remorse over wrongdoing,
it is a surrender of what is not ours to have,
and an embrace of what is.
Come let us return to the LORD.
Lectio Divina
Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the East.
Genesis 2
You have made us for yourself, O LORD.
And our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.
Augustine
Prayer
LORD
What I have reached for
I give back to you.
For what I presently have
I give thanks.
Amen
Blessing
Dear Friend
May you catch yourself reaching for control.
May you instead, raise your hands in worship for what already is.
May you not see each moment as something to manipulate,
but a mystery to contemplate.
Go in peace.
Ponder the gift of every breath.
In the Name of the One
Who Breathed Life Into Dust
Amen