Consume

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Other than maybe January 1st of a new year, I am not sure that we ever think as much about what we consume as we do at the beginning of Lent. We start to examine our habits and narrow in on something that we believe that we can abstain from for 40 days and end up a better person for it.

It is a challenge we take on with the best of intentions:  walking with the Savior through the wilderness.  A resolution, but with Jesus as an accountability partner.

A quick audit of my life reveals many things I could stand to get a better handle on. I definitely consume more coffee than I should on any given day, I never drink enough water, and this time of year right after Valentine’s Day when the stores are full of those amazing marshmallow eggs and hollow bunnies the struggle is REAL…

Its a long list, to be honest!  But is my low-key caffeine addiction truly the biggest obstacle to my best life? What about chocolate? Is dairy keeping me from a closer walk with God?

Or is it just a lot easier to face what it is that we consume than what it is that consumes us.

It is surely difficult to change what we eat and drink; harder still to address why we do the things that deplete us – the habits and behaviors that use us up and wipe us out.

But what about those things that exhaust our soul that are impossible to change? Most of us can’t make a 40-day change to our job, our children or our relationships without life altering consequences.  What about the relentless emotional expense of simply being human in a world that seems to expect so much more?

Maybe you haven’t even figured out what to give up and you already feel like you are in the wilderness. And even though today is only the beginning of Lent,  you may feel like you have been here for ages.

In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 Paul says this: We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

It may feel like the world is trying to break us but take heart: It tried to break Jesus, too.

The world tempts you to believe that there is an easier way to do all of this, and that everyone else has it all figured out. To be so consumed with jealousy and shame that you will consume anything to help you hold it together on the surface.

Maybe this year, that is something we could consider giving up. Instead of being consumed by the cost of constant perfection, let the cracks show for a season; let the light of God shine through what you were certain was a great flaw in your life.  Refill what the world has consumed with confident hope in Christ Jesus.

You were molded by the hands of the potter into the exact jar of clay that you are for that very purpose.

In these numbered days you are meant to be the vessel, not the ashes.  Choose to consume, and to be consumed by, Love.

Song

On By skrosenfeldLeave a comment

I started this little project by accident.

A few days before Lent, the church published a list of photo prompts – one for every day between Ash Wednesday and Easter. I was excited about it – photo projects are kind of a guilty pleasure of mine – and planned to participate exactly as described:

“Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram that shows how you perceive each word, no explanation required.”

But the first prompt was “Ashes”. And the first thing that came to mind for me to capture and post really felt like it required some context.

The next day the prompt was “Relationship”, and a similar thing happened. After I had written a response to 3 or 4 days worth of words…I started wondering if I could keep it going. So often when I write I wait for months while the words form on my heart, and only put them to “paper” when they have overflowed. I thought it might be interesting to challenge myself with a Lenten discipline of writing something every day; maybe even something spiritual every day.

So I decided to try. In my head, that meant 40 posts in 40 days.

The timing was an issue of course – this has been without a doubt the busiest Lenten season that I can remember. These are always particularly busy times for our family, but this year with the added tasks associated with content creation and production for virtual worship – it has been unlike anything I have ever experienced.

I will never forget it. I will always be grateful. I will be so happy when it is over.

All of that is true at the same time; it makes about as much sense as love ever does.

It is funny that the prompt today happens to be song because – for the love of music and worship – I need to take a step back from these posts as we go into Holy Week. At first I was feeling pretty defeated at that prospect, and then I realized that because the photo challenge didn’t take breaks on Sunday – this post right here (such that it is) is actually my 40th post. I am hoping to post again as we get to the end of the week, but for now – the music needs my attention.

Because our calling is to share the song with you. And we just can’t wait. ❤️

Season

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On Friday morning I stepped outside to put some things into the recycling bin. This is something I do nearly every morning and regardless of the weather I usually go out in about the same attire – its just a few steps across the deck and it isn’t usually worth more than a flip flop’s worth of preparation.

I braced myself for a blast of chilly air and opened the door – as it turned out, it was about 65 degrees outside. It felt like I stepped out of my winter expectations right into the reality of spring. It was hard to go back inside, even with the promise of coffee!

A few minutes later, as I was texting with my friend, I said that didn’t think I could ever live some place that didn’t experience all 4 seasons; I just love the promise of a new thing always just around the corner. Every season has its wonders; miracles and metaphors. In the Spring we see rebirth, and in the Fall we see the beauty in letting go. The Summer is full of color and light, while Winter is full of mystery and potential.

Every season has its responsibilities; every season has its rest.

I took the above picture in November of 2019 after spending an afternoon cleaning up the wilted remains of summer and planting some bulbs to winter over for the spring. As I looked down with pride at what looked on the surface to be containers of dirt, a thought came to mind and I posted the image with this caption:

“It is amazing to me how different a successful day of gardening looks in the spring verses how it looks in the fall. A solid reminder, really, that success isn’t always in bloom.”

Just as the seasons we experience here on Earth come with different expectations for climate and growth; the seasons we pass through in our lives are no different. You would not expect a flower to bloom in the winter; you wouldn’t think that if it was just a little more committed – if it worked just a little bit harder – it could grow up through the frozen ground.

And yet, in the winter seasons of our lives, we expect so much more of ourselves than we do of the flower. We never allow ourselves rest; we refuse to accept a season of growth if it looks like relative dormancy on the surface.

But the thing is – we aren’t created to live in perpetual harvest. Your time spent planted in the rich soil of last season’s lessons is not failure. You need that darkness to see the spark of a new thing.

Back in November of 2019 there was more moving under the soil than would meet the eye. I was working in my yard that day because I was trying to get my head right after a particularly difficult weekend…and yet that season was actually the calm before the storm. The following winter was one of heartbreak and exhaustion, and I don’t think I need to tell you how the spring shaped up.

I think I do need to tell you that right before Easter, when it was time to produce and film music for Holy Week in my living room, those fall bulbs yielded spring tulips and hyacinths, right on time.

Struggle

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I took this picture yesterday afternoon while we sat in the waiting room of our pediatricians. Danny was nervous – any trip to the doctor could result in a flu shot (in his mind), so he usually has a lot more at stake emotionally than physically.

Fortunately he did not get a shot of any kind; just a Strep test and a Covid test (which were both negative.)

We have been passing a cold around since last Friday morning when Willis woke up with it. I don’t know exactly how one gets a cold in “these unprecedented times” but I am chalking it up to 3 of us being out in the world again with more people than we’ve been with in over a year. Regardless of how we inherited it, its just a cold and normally it would be no big deal.

But a cold in the time of Covid is no small thing. It means missed school for the entire household, different lengthy “isolation” periods based on when various symptoms show up or doctors’ appointments and Covid tests for anyone who so much as sniffles (which is what we did and again, I must emphasize, they were all negative).

It is also nearing the end of the quarter, a quarter filled with extraordinary changes and new expectations. And here, in these last days of catching up and testing, everyone is home. My bedroom is a high school choir room again. Danny – as a middle school student – has switched back to being a distance learner for the week but hybrid elementary is an all or nothing game. If Ezra doesn’t go to school on his days, then he is asynchronous full time.

In the grand scheme of struggles in the world right now, I know this ain’t much. But, a glass of water doesn’t have to be overflowing to feel heavy if you carry it around long enough. There is more value in acknowledging that something has been hard for you than in berating yourself for struggling because you know people who have had it worse.

All this to say, the Rosenfeld household will continue our yearly tradition of crashing into Spring Break/Holy Week without the landing gear fully extended.

And that is ok. These are the seasons of miracles, and one recovered sniffle at a time we will get back in the air.

I fell down a little bit of a praise music rabbit hole this morning, and found myself listening to this message. If you are feeling a struggle right now, you might want to listen too. You won’t be disappointed. ❤