That was the question of the "Pray as you Go" app today. Every Saturday during Lent there will be a time of reflection on where we have experienced God during the week.
And I look back and am still working through challenges at church with my zoom groups. It was so traumatic having people pop in on us during a Bible study Tuesday with rude and crude pictures and words. It was a visible representation of evil forces - destructive and chaotic - in the world encroaching on our little group of faithful students of the Bible. AND we hare still struggling to get everyone on zoom again in the next meetings which is frustrating and disappointing. So, as I look back on the week, that is the first thing I think about. And between this and the snow falls of the week, I feel like I am slogging through.
The devotional for today was title - "Love - the Strongest Force" and helps me to remember to look for love as I look back. Of course, I experience love in large and small ways throughout the week - seeing friends at pickleball, having my daughter call me daily, having dinner with Marnie and her family and today receiving my second covid shot. That's just a few signs of God's love.
The truth is - when I sit back and reflect on the signs of love in my life - I am then more aware of God's movement. Wednesday I was blessed to do the imposition of ashes on many people who drove through the church's portico. I would always say - from dust you come and to dust you return AND "Jesus love you." For several people, I would watch tears spring into their eyes. We need to hear those words spoken to us - we need to truly receive that love into our hearts. Life is full of challenges and frustrations and sometimes death and failures. But in the midst of it is this LOVE that comes through our Lord who wants us to know it. Receive it and, of course, give it.
So, on this Saturday my spiritual practice is to embrace and savor all the ways in which God is loving me.
Maybe another way of asking the question is: where has love been this week? And the answer is - everywhere!
Here is a blessing for today from Maxine Shonk
May you be blessed by the God of LOVE
whose greatest desire is to be one with you.
May you draw close and know the thrill of God's beating heart against your own.
May this Lover God be a listening presence in every word and thought and experience of your existence.
May the fire and passion of God's love for you move you to be a compassionate and loving presence to all you meet.
May the God of LOVE be with you.
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