Lenten Words

This week we have been prayerfully playing with this list of words:

6.   Question
7.   Weakness
8.   Strength
9.   Peace
10. Chaos
11.  Hope
12.  Unfair

What fascinates me is that not only are there paradoxes between the words and the worlds they create together, there are paradoxes within each word.

For example, questions ~ there are some questions that evoke wonder and awe.  Questions that stir and swirl within us when we stare at a starry night sky.  Who are we?  Why are we here?  Then, there are questions that can cause our defensive shield to be engaged.  When someone asks us, "What are you doing?"  Or, "Why did you do that?"  Questions can provoke and evoke both the beauty around us and within us...as well as the brokenness that sits side-by-side.  The very word, "question," is a paradox/puzzle.

The same is true of weakness.  On the one hand we try to avoid and hide our weaknesses...cover them over.  On the other...it is through acknowledge our weaknesses that we claim our full humanness.  Humility is not always held as a virtue in our day-to-day world...just go check the most recently headlines.  Yet, I rarely lead a memorial service where someone says the person, "Boasted and bragged and that was a good thing."  It is endless fascinating and flummoxing that what we really hold true as valuable at the end, we don't always acknowledge in our normal course of daily lives.  To live from our weakness is a strength.

The same is true of strength.  In what ways can you see both the beauty and brokenness in that word and the world it crafts/creates?  Sometimes we need strength...sometimes strength tramples on others.  

Peace can be wonderful...and can lead to complacency or so idealized we never realize the way peace is within us and around us.

Chaos can cause our minds to swirl and feel out of control...and can be the spark of creativity we need just as it was in the beginning with God and the sloshing chaos.

Hope...like peace...can motivate us to move in new ways or be so far-flung that we stay stuck on the side lines.

Unfairness is both an invitation to see that our relationships are not always equal...and that such inequality, when seen, can direct our energy toward each other.

Paradoxes between/woven within the list.

Paradoxes within the words themselves.

What ways does that awaken more than a trace of grace for you?

Blessings ~~