hunger/Lent/prayer/rhythm

The Heart of Lent

Posted on by Lindsey Gallant / 2 Comments

I’ve been practicing Lent, in some fashion or other, for about the last decade. Lent is the forty day period (excluding Sundays) from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. It is part of the recurring rhythm of the church calendar, another way to mark time by following in the footsteps of Jesus.

It is a time of fasting and prayer. It is a penitential, preparatory season. During Lent we focus on the life and teachings of Jesus, all the while preparing to embrace the terrible beauty of his death and resurrection. For me it is a much-needed shift in perspective.

At its heart, Lent is about hunger and humility.

Hunger – Where would we be without the recognition of our lack? We live in a supersaturated society, where desires are gratified smoothly at our fingertips, and our stomachs growl right along with the ceaseless roar of consumerism. Through fasting, through denial, and self-sacrifice, we acknowledge that we have needs we alone cannot satisfy. We don’t fast to gain brownie points with God. We fast to remember our great need of Him. And in mercy He fills the empty places.

Humility – Where would we be without this unpopular position? With our noses so high in the air that God becomes merely a stumbling stone to our vain ambition, when He wants to build us a sanctuary (Isaiah 8:11-15). The only way in is through a fearfully narrow gate, and we must crawl on prayerful knees. But once inside, we find a fortress of shelter and strength, a sacred dwelling. And in mercy He gives us the ability to receive.

Hunger and humility soften our hearts. They make us search after our upside-down King as he makes his way from the Sermon on the Mount to the Mount of Olives. They make us strain to hear his whispers and climb trees to see his wonders.

Lent is an invitation to a forty day journey with Jesus. A journey of hunger, humility, and honesty. A journey to His heart.

~lg

a life of prayer/afternoon prayer/joy/prayer/presence

afternoon prayer :: abiding joy

Posted on by Lindsey Gallant / 1 Comment
There’s an intrinsic connection between abiding in the true Vine and true Joy (John 15). If I’m feeling my joy waning as the day wears on, it’s a sign I need to reach and root into the source of my life. Mid-afternoon is the perfect time to pause and become grounded.
It’s as simple as closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths, imagining my inner life as the flow of sap between a vine and a branch, picturing the vital connection I have to love, beauty, strength, joy, and fruitfulness. It’s breathing His name – Jesus – as prayer, as petition, as practicing the presence of God. It’s drinking this aqua vitae from a well I have not dug. There is a peace that flows in, a moment of waiting, and then the strength begins to rise.

His life in mine, and mine in His, and ours together breathing and becoming one – ah yes – His joy becomes mine and mine becomes full. 
~lg
joy/love/parenting

Letter to a Little One

Posted on by Lindsey Gallant / 0 Comment

Little one,

You are growing, pushing, expanding my borders of love. I feel it already, your feet stomping out new territory, a land about to be lived in. Already, you are staking a claim to heart and home, and we welcome your flags with joy. Already your sister and brother are circling you with their arms and knowing love to enlarge with the ever-widening space you occupy.

You are getting in under my ribs, as if under my skin wasn’t enough – flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone. You are step dancing on my heart, and though I have yet to know your name, I know your rhythm. I know your hiccups. My blood knows your heartbeat.

I can’t deny there is some trepidation at the thought of your coming. New life has a way of turning kingdoms on their heads. But headfirst is the best way to break into the new world, and we might as well plunge headlong if we are going to fall at all. You will turn me inside out, of this I am sure, and I will be put back together a new person.

New because of you. New because of pain, and new because of joy. New because your name will be on my lips, and your smile will be in my arms, and my heart will be on my sleeve. New because of love, the wonder of its wide expanse and rough terrain and matchless beauty, a kingdom delivered through the eye of a needle and led by a little child.

You, little one, are a herald from heaven. You run with the good news, and I am a mountain waiting to kiss your toes.

~lg

beauty/children/joy/love/morning/Single-handed Theology

Single-Handed Theology: The Piper in the Striped Pajamas

Posted on by Lindsey Gallant / 2 Comments

Little boy blue, come play your pipe –
Enchanting with every step
and sound from your lips.
You pull me out of bed by your tousled  head,
catch my eye with a flutter of thick lashes,
warm me to the morning in your cotton striped pajamas.

I’m a little bit in love,
and it’s a good way to begin a day.
You don’t even know your magic,
and it was not yours to begin with,
but the fruit of a multiplication of love.
And now the proof is in the pudding –
you are filling my earth with the blessing of old,
and I see the blush of the Tree of Life upon your cheeks.

I did not know that such a song could stir me out of myself,
out of my sleep, and into a shining new creation.
You, little seed, are crushing my darkness.
In the chestnut-gloss of your eye
I see us all as we were meant to be.

~lg

a life of prayer/noon prayer/prayer

noon prayer :: beyond counting blessings

Posted on by Lindsey Gallant / 1 Comment

The day is at its peak, but I’m lagging in the valley. It’s an effort to look up, to engage my mind in blessing counting of any kind, and yet I know this arithmetic will figure the day either for better or worse.

Sun glinting on steadfast river
(Glitter and paper bits ground into the floor)
A stack of library books eagerly devoured
(A stack of housework waiting to devour me)
Cheerful chatter of imaginary play
(Marbles, marbles rolling everywhere)

But these are not to be given equal weight. The equation doesn’t work that way. I am missing something in the formula. There is a Sum greater than these parts.

The Source of all beauty
The Counselor of infinite wisdom
The Father who delights in His children

The gentle God of lowly heart who says,

Rest is received in yoking with me. Let us join our labours and ascend the hill together. Do not grow weary in doing good, for all of this counts. Keep in step, and I will order your day. I will make the fragments add up in the end. Come to me. Come with me. 

Oh, I am too tired for mathematics, but here is an outcome I can rely on. Beyond counting blessings to counting on Him.

~lg