Monday Manna
Shedding our snake skin...
Good morning, friends — love and steadiness to you as we begin this new week…
Before we get into today’s reflection, I want to both express my gratitude as well as share my prayers. As someone who barely reads email herself, I do not take for granted what a privilege it is that you not only allow me into your inbox, but give of your precious time, attention, and financial support to make Monday Manna even exist. Thank you. I want you to know that as I sit down to write — and at other moments throughout the day and week — I pray for you. I ask for God’s Spirit to meet each and every one of my Monday Manna readers in their own lives, with their own needs. And I always feel so amazed that though there are many of you I have not had the gift of meeting, we are connected in such a meaningful way — because of you, and because of the Spirit’s work. So again, thank you…This just felt especially important for me to say today.
On to today’s nugget….
I remember Shauna Niequist (an author I have followed for many years) saying one time she is a classic “over-stayer.” Whether it be relationships, friendships, jobs, circumstances, or habits, she was notorious for staying in them too long. And oh, how I can relate…
Maybe it is my fear of loss, my bracing against grief, or my self-made allergy to the unknown, but I will hang on (and on and on) to what no longer works for me because it feels familiar. To let ourselves be changed and transformed is the ultimate act of trust, because we have to somehow believe what’s in that mystery of what we don’t see is something good.
It always confounds me how I will continue to live with something I know is over (or in other circumstances, actively harmful or holding me back) just because “this is what I’ve *always* had/done/been/etc.” It feels safer to just keep the pattern, keep the person, keep the thing, even when God’s Spirit is saying, “We are on to new things, dear! Will you give me some breathing room here?!”
This blessing from Kate Bowler “On Change” really summed it up for me…
***
“Blessed are we, mid-change,
clutching our old selves like they’re security blankets.
May we release them gently (or with a dramatic scream)
and make peace with the fact that
growth feels a lot like grief wrapped in a bad cardigan.”
****
Growth feels a lot like grief….YES. Change and transformation require a shedding and a stripping away. It requires a lot of release (something we talked quite a bit about in my posts for the new year when we reflected on releasing small stories and the fear of being our true selves).
This week is a turning…tomorrow is the Chinese Lunar New Year, and Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday. Both of these are invitations to live into the growth and transformation God’s been nudging us toward.
My friend, Jennifer Grant , reminded me that last year was the year of the snake. And before we move on to this year — the year of the horse — there might be some more shedding of skin we need to do.
What in you — in your life — has served its purpose and is now complete? What no longer works (even if it was a very good thing at one time)? What is holding you back? What patterns or habits are you really ready to slither out of that you might live with a whole new spirit of freedom?
I will speak for myself that with all the injuries I’ve had in the last couple of years, I’m really having to do some challenging release work around my body. And while it has, at so many moments, felt like grief, I do hear the whisper that this growth and transformation is taking me where I actually want to go, and that looks a lot like freedom.
Speaking of freedom, that is exactly what the image and aura of the horse is. Chinese tradition says the year of the horse represents energy, freedom, and independence. What a beautiful and hope-filled image to embrace as we let go of the things we need to let go of, and some we didn’t think we ever could let go of.
As Kate blessed us with, may we let go of them gently (or with a dramatic scream!). May we shed our snake skin. May we embody the strength and vitality of the charging horse. And may we we find, in this stripped down state, the surprising and beautiful growth God will do in us as we enter this Lenten season.
A Prayer
This prayer I wrote, “When I’m in the messy middle,” speaks to the trust and the hope for these times when we are being changed, and it’s uncomfortable. From my book, Ash and Starlight: Prayers for the Chaos and Grace of Daily Life, Second Edition.
When I’m in the messy middle
of something
Slow and steady God,
Things have changed,
and I know they’re not done changing.
I’m here on your potter’s wheel
where you’re shaping my essence into
something new with
guiding, loving hands.
But this messy middle time…
it’s painful, and scary, and hard.
The wheel spins and my world swirls
and all I want is to see the end result.
Becoming the broken-down
lump of clay was a
hard stage too, I might add.
Help me, God,
commit to the process,
not the outcome.
Help me embrace this messy middle time
when I must make space
for shifts and questions.
Change my mantras from
clarity to exciting ambiguity,
definition to open-endedness,
certainty to awe-filled surprises,
timeline to trust.
Help me believe, Lord,
that even what seems
to be negative change
makes room in me and around me
for something fresh (and good).
You hum a tune of possibility
and potential as you work.
With each move of your hand,
you mutter,
“Beautiful.”
“Beautiful.”
“Beautiful.”
And, you smile.
Amen.
Isaiah 29:16 * Isaiah 64:8 * Jeremiah 18:1–6
“‘Can I not do with you…just as this potter has done?’ says
the Lord. ‘Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in
my hand…’” —Jeremiah 18:6
Something that nourished me recently…
*I know I’ve shared A Beautiful Chorus’ music here before, but this one from their Wheels of Light album is a favorite. Find a place to sit or lie down with palms open, and allow it to become your mantra….
*Our family had the joy of some skiing time this weekend — first trip to the slopes this year. It was fun to get out in the snow with hearts full of inspiration from the winter olympics…not quite the same caliber. 🤣 Also, I don’t think I’ve ever skied in 55 degree temperatures.
Ash and Starlight, plus other good things…
* MY ETSY SHOP ~ Thanks to you, I send portions of sales in my Etsy shop to World Central Kitchen which provides hunger relief, and last week, I got an update that they marked a new milestone of now serving one million hot meals every day in Gaza. That means close to half the population is receiving a reliable meal each day. You can view the etsy shop here for cards, prints, pillows, clothes, and blankets!
*SECOND EDITION OF ASH AND STARLIGHT ~ Find the updated edition of my book here at Chalice or at the Bookshop link.
*MONDAY MANNA ARCHIVES ~ Monday Manna each week is free! Paid supporters of Monday Manna can view previous Monday Manna reflections here, or for the really old stuff, go to my website.
*WHAT DOES MANNA MEAN? ~ Check out an earlier post to learn how this little bit of “daily bread” got its name…
With you, friends, as we embrace the messy middle time, and the invitation to grow God sings over us. Let’s shed the old, and prepare for the beauty ahead.
Love and Light,
Arianne
I love hearing from you! You are manna. Reply to this note to send a message directly to my inbox.