Good morning, friends — peace, joy, and love to you on this ‘Easter Monday’…
Yesterday’s Easter felt especially poignant this time. We are always changed with each Easter arrival, having experienced different things in the past year…ways the landscape of our lives and our hearts have changed. What has died. What new life has come. I found myself particularly grateful for the Easter promise of new life and new bodies and new minds yesterday.
And while Easter has come, I’m still thinking about Lent. I mentioned in my brief post last week how I’ve been realizing Lent is about healing and homecoming, and that it’s part of a much longer journey. Honestly, the intentions and focus I wanted to have during Lent did not come to fruition at all in the way I hoped. Lent is over, and yet the grace-filled and good news is that while Lent is a sacred stretch of the path, the road continues…
Lent is about repentance or turning, and yet this theme of turning is an invitation that is always there and carries forward. A literal definition of repentance I’ve heard is to turn and walk in the other direction. Sometimes there are spaces in our lives where we need to do complete 180’s, but I’m seeing there are a million invitations in my daily life to make a two-degree turn toward the life I really want and the person I really am.
I remember hearing coach and author Martha Beck say, “every single decision we make is an opportunity to turn toward the life we desire.” What we put in our mouths, and what comes out of them. Where we focus our attention. How we acknowledge (or not) those around us. What we do with money. Whether we take things personally, living by the criticism and praise of others.
If we take that promise to its source, it’s really about turning toward or away from the presence of God shining within us. It’s about turning toward the real you. In other words, is the choice I’m making right now turning toward God? Toward who I really am?
It’s like Richard Rohr’s understanding of healing — that “God heals people by making them into what they are really meant to be.”
I would say it’s not about becoming something or someone else, but about making space for who you really are to come through.
Every choice is an opportunity to turn and heal. To turn and come home. I know for myself, there are still so many areas in my life where I keep choosing, again and again, that which causes me distress or stunts my growth. I turn toward the familiar habit or reactive urge, rather than the true self and deeper desire. To get to that foundational form of healing — freedom on the inside — takes a lot of pauses and awareness. We can live for a long time without even realizing there are areas of us which hurt or are shrouding that true self. Because with every opportunity to turn toward the light inside, there is the equal chance to turn toward ignoring or numbing.
This is all part of the beautiful partnership of soul-work with God. We need to turn, but God does the rest. Healing and coming home to ourselves is not so much something we have to do, but something we allow to happen to us through turning and making space.
Healing is always, always grace.
Can you notice the little moments today, this week, to turn?
To honor who is within you?
To heal?
To journey home?
A Prayer
This prayer “For Springtime” from my book, Ash and Starlight: Prayers for the Chaos and Grace of Daily Life, Second Edition, is all about the journey toward new life and freedom. It’s never too late to turn…and in fact, there has been quiet growth and turning within you that you may never have noticed.
For Springtime
Loving, Creator God,
Spring reminds me it's
never too late to start over.
That there’s been quiet growth
over these long months
of winter when I saw nothing.
When I was called to believe
there was growth happening
beneath hard, cold soil.
And now? Glory!
I celebrate the loveliness
of all you've made.
The newness, Lord,
the freshness –
it inspires my soul!
Tulips in the front yard,
buds on the trees,
the voices of birds,
the cleansing of rain,
the comfort of sunshine…
each gift renews me,
speaking of the promise within
all those months of dormancy
and preparation.
As spring awakens my physical senses,
I ask, God, for you to awaken my inner senses.
May my mind open and blossom
to the longings you've placed within me...
to the steps and path that will
satisfy the desires of my heart...
to the hopes and passions
you've planted in every
one of your children…
May I seek what will truly fulfill them.
May I journey toward their Source.
May I be guided by your gentle and wise Spirit.
It is never too late to be
what you call me to be.
Even as it takes greatest courage
and deepest humility.
With your help, I will open myself to
what I never expected before,
never experienced before,
and never thought possible.
Amen.
Psalm 16:11 * Psalm 104:24-30 * Isaiah 55:8-9
“You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness
of joy.” – Psalm 16:11
Something that nourished me recently…
*My grandmother collected egg cups. How many she had, I don’t know, but I now have a couple dozen of them and take such joy in setting them out each Easter. When it comes to decorating for Easter in our house (or any holiday), it’s a mix of the generational antique and the colorful homemade by little hands. Happy Easter!
*School Spring Break was last week here. Its coinciding with Holy Week meant we kept our adventures close to home. I will say that I loved getting to do excursions while also sleeping in my own bed. Among the highlights were a visit to the Field Museum where we saw the T-Rex, “Sue,” whom I had forgotten was discovered in my home state of South Dakota!
Ash and Starlight, plus other good things…
*SECOND EDITION OF ASH AND STARLIGHT ~ Find the updated edition of my book here at Chalice or at the Amazon link!
*MONDAY MANNA ARCHIVES ~ You can view previous Monday Manna reflections here, or for the really old stuff, go to my website. 💛
Pause, listen, and pay attention for those little invitations to turn, friends. The small choices are where it’s at.
Love and Light,
Arianne
I love hearing from you! You are manna. Reply to this note to send a message directly to my inbox.
❤️❤️❤️ I always feel like I’ve had a visit with you, leaving refreshed and open to new direction. Your words lifted my spirits and left me ready to serve , His will be done.
I'm embracing the "two degree turn." Thank you for that image that I so desperately needed this morning. Happy Easter.