Lenten Word 7: Connected

Our Lenten Journey is best traveled when we have a sense and reality of being connected to God. Apart from God we can do, and are, nothing. Staying connected with God keeps us connected to the source of all life, all love, all hope, all joy, all peace, and all possibilities for our lives. The way to connect is universal, seeking God through our prayers, our fasting, our scripture reading, our worship and our praise. It is a pursuit best done in spirit and truth.

When our first born was learning to crawl we would set her on a blanket. At first, she would be frustrated that we had put her on her stomach and we would grunt and push and then raising up her head with her little arms, she would turn to us and smile and do a funny sound that is forever engrained in our minds as that of joy for her and us. She needed that eye contact with us to know she was still connected to us. But soon, she was moving off the blanket and on to the carpet. I remember her exploring that different area of the carpet and with her little hand touch it to make sure it was safe and solid enough to crawl onto. Again, she would turn and smile with us as if to say, "I'm going to try this new area; cover me!" Soon, she was off the blanket, on the carpet and crawling towards the hallway. This journey was one of stopping and looking back to stay connected. Later she was walking, and one day she walked down the aisle, still connected to us, but wanting to join her new family.

In our spiritual life we need to turn to God and seek his smile and presence to know we're still connected. We're sometimes led off the comfort and safety of our blankets onto the hard reality of the carpet or floor, and sometimes we lead ourselves down a long hallway that if we don't connect with God, we panic and think we can never return. Staying connected helps us know we can always return home to God. The secret is no secret at all, seek God's face.

The Apostle Paul wrote these words about his own connectedness and his desire for the people he had won over for Christ: "14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Stay rooted and ground in love, through your prayers, with bent knees and/or hearts, remember you are God's, whose riches in glory are yours to strengthen you and connect you.

PRAYER: Loving God, may your blessings be with all who seek to stay connected. And once we connect, help us to take that connection to others, for many are lost in hallways of life without where they are or Whose they are. This we pray in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.