Lent Week Two 3/4/21: Vulnerability & Resilience

Psalm 62:1,2 For you alone my soul waits in silence: from the Beloved comes my salvation. Enfolding me with strength and steadfast love, my faith shall remain firm. ~Nan Merrill

Finding God in both the ordinary and the extraordinary nourish the soul and build resilience, strength, love and compassion. Nepo quotes so beautifully that “light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond, and music is in both the flowing violin and the water dripping from the drainage pipe. Yes, God is under the porch as well as on top of the mountain, and joy is in both the front row and the bleachers, if we are willing to be where we are.”

It is not always easy to experience God in moments of distress and brokenness. After the sudden death of her husband, Jan Richardson’s life was turned upside down. Since that painful rupture in her life, she has done a lot of reflecting on her grief. She learned that, “in the presence of pain, there is a door. The door does not depend on whether we are cured, or on what length of time the pain lives with us. The door comes in the form of choices about where we will allow God to lead us in our brokenness, and how we will let the brokenness open us to one another and to new terrain in our lives. In time, we become the door, discerning where and how and to whom we will open in both our vulnerability and our resilience, those twin gifts that, as we go along, become increasingly indistinguishable”.

Richardon further explains that if we are receptive, compassion can be a gift that develops from times of brokenness. I am reminded of the formation of a pearl which develops from an irritant in an oyster. As a defense mechanism, the oyster secretes a fluid to coat the irritant. Layer upon layer of the fluid builds on the irritant until the glistening pearl is created. Often at the point of our greatest fragility, compassion shines through us to others; gold radiates through the crack; or a pearl of blessing emerges from the irritant.

This is the blessing

you will find

for yourself--

tucked into

the crack

In the wall,

scribbled

in the gap

between worlds,

sheltered beneath

the outstretched wing,

inscribed within

the tender

wound.

~Jan Ricardson

Song: Psalm 62 John Michael Talbot

Reflection:

• Where have you noticed “pearls” in your own experiences of vulnerability and resilience?

• In the midst of the imperfections and brokenness in our nation and world, where are the signs of hope, strength and blessing?

• Where have you experienced or offered acts of compassion this week?

Nepo, M. ((2011). The book of awakening. San Francisco, CA: Conari Press, p. 24

Merrill, N. (2007). Psalms for praying. New York: Continuum

Richardon, J. (2021). The sanctuary between us: A retreat for women’s Christmas. p. 28-30