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DAFFODILS
Ho, Mistress Daffodil, said Ikey (tinker)
Where have you been all winter?
There was snow in the ditches last night
And here you are.
Did you light your lamp in that blizzard?
When Ikey came back
Next day, with his pack, from windy Njalsay
The yellow hosts
Were cheering and dancing all the way to the inn.
George Mackay Brown
I see that daffodils are beginning to raise their golden heads upward this week. It
doesn’t seem too long ago there was snow atop their winter beds.
And wind! We had some wind this week. In my neighborhood, there are many branches
down. One large wooden projectile woke our household in the night, including the dog
who thought if he barked loudly and long enough the storm would abate. Lord, give me
the light breezes of summer, please.
Beloved, the Lenten season is upon us. I for one am feeling inspired. I like a good
cleaning out of the closets. Although the emptying out seems to be regularly followed by
a filling in. It is the way of seasonal change. Nonetheless, an emptying out of the old
makes way for the new.
There is a richness in the old, a strength in tradition. True? Yes, but this is only true
until there isn’t. It is true until the cracks of the past can’t provide the foundation that
they once did. And then it is time for an appraisal. It is time to survey what treasures
might be salvaged, and what constitutes wreckage and can be discarded.
Lent provides us with a season for thoughtful clearing away of that which will hinder our
forward journey with God. God is relational and ever ready to show us the way forward.
Jesus, our gift from God, is our beacon of The Way forward. And The Way forward is
Hope. Lenten Hope is found in letting go of impediments, making way for newness, and
embracing surprise encounters with the Holy.
Keeping a Holy Lent can be a challenge. I think that points to the depths of the spiritual
encounters of the season. Lent in its simplistic beauty is a season to experience the Joy
and Nearness of God. With this in mind, I want to so encourage you to regularly attend Lenten Sunday services, the Lenten Book Club, and the Wednesday Soup and Evening
Prayer services. Let us live as we pray and let us do it together in community.
This Holy season begins on Ash Wednesday. Please join me and your beloved
Ascension Parish family for the imposition of ashes at the noon service.
In peace,
Mtr. SuEllen+
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