Who Do I Trust?
It
may astonish you / how quietly this blessing / arrives.
No
hammering / at the door. / No chiming / of the bell.
It
has given / no warning, / sent no message/ in advance,
yet
with a suddenness / that somehow comes / as no surprise,
it
is there / on the doorstep / of your heart.
Peer
out, / and you will see / this blessing is no stranger.
You
already know / every word / it has come to say.
I
am merely here / to tell you / how this blessing / is a remembering,
a
returning; / how it asks of you / what you already long / to do:
open
/ open / open.
—“Blessing to Open the Heart” by Jan Richardson
While
Jesus was experiencing temptation in the wilderness during the
opening week of Lent, I got to thinking: Who do I trust? Who do I
trust for my nourishment? Who do I trust with my service? Who do I
trust to love and care for me?
Now,
there are messages surrounding all of us, tempting us to believe that
we can meet our own needs, and we can do it alone; we really don’t
need anyone else. But I simply don’t believe that. I need to
invest my trust. I need to believe that I am not running around in
this world all alone. I need to trust and believe that I am God’s
beloved child—that I am worthy of nourishment and grace, love and
care. And I need to trust and believe that the service I am called
to offer can actually make a difference in the world. Quite simply,
I truly believe that God is with us—Emmanuel. I truly believe that
God’s grace bubbles forth from the bedrock of our lives with water
that sustains and blessings that endure. We all go through trying
times in the wilderness, just like Jesus did, but even in the most
difficult of those times, we are not alone.
See
you in church,
Christy