It's Lent...

There are moments when we all have a meh day. 

Not the WORST!  DAY!!  EVER!!!

Not the Great day in the whole history of my life...no wait...the whole of human history.

Just a day when your soul feels like it is wearing your father's suit coat or the time you tried on your mom's high heels and fell flat on your backside.

A day when something is off...and if you could identify what it was maybe you could do something about it...but the something is elusive and evasive.  The "something" keeps fluttering around like it is playing a game with you.  The "something" is like a housefly buzzing around.  You swat at it.  You try to ignore it...but it keeps whooshing past your ear.  So, you decide the only logical thing to do is to sell your house that way the fly will bother someone else!  (I am totally kidding, but there are days the thought has crossed my mind).

It is on those days when my soul is restless that music is soothing and settling.

There are many, many hymns that can cause me to breathe and be.

One of my favorite is the above, "It is well with my soul."  Part of what is so powerful is the juxtaposition...the contradiction...in the first verse:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul

It starts with such a serene thought...peace like a river attending our way.  I think of Psalm 23 ~ a cool, babbling brook, slowly meandering around.  I smile.  Then, the writer (who you may know had lost his family in a tragic boat accident) talks about sorrows like sea billows roll.

Wait.

What?

I was strolling by a peaceful stream...not being knocked over by waves.  I was in a happy place only to be taken/transported in just a few words to place of sadness.  But that is life.  Life can be joyful one moment and distressing the next.  You can be laughing only to have something happen that knocks the wind out of you. 

When has that been true in your life?
When has the above words become a soundtrack for you?

I invite you to listen to this beautiful hymn, close your eyes, and lean in to the truths it has to offer for you...which I pray will offer more than a trace of God's grace this day.

Blessings ~