Our Rector, Paul, offers his first Lenten Thought for the Week:
First some words from Henri Nouwen in ‘Following Jesus’:
Patience means to remain close to the moment and to fully taste where you are so that the seeds that are sown in the moment can grow and lead you to the future. The future is hidden in the present as a seed in fertile ground. By nurturing and tending the soil in which we stand we come in touch with the promise which will grow into a strong tree if you give it time.
Patience is the foundation of all spiritual growth. If anything is happening that is spiritually valid , it is happening here and now, at this moment as this is the only place and time God can meet us. You can be where you are, you don’t have to be anywhere else.
As I said on Sunday we can be discouraged, we can drift and we can be distracted all of which can mean we miss God in the present. When we are discouraged we tend to let the negatives dominate our thinking and run out of patience and hope. We drift when we find ourselves acting or making decisions in ways that don’t reflect the values of Christ even if it is for ‘good ends’. And we can be distracted when we think that ‘this moment is empty, it doesn’t hold anything for me, this is not a good place to be, I want to be somewhere else’.
My prayer for all of us this Lent is that we will slowly be able to live fully in the present and to trust that God wants to bless us in ways unique to us, that fit our circumstances. As we do so, the future will reveal itself to us.
