Time...what was, is and will be...

       Time is different in the wilderness. Time is different when we are wandering. Time is different when we are wondering. Funny how time can stand still or speed up. And all the while, we know it’s not really happening, even though it truly feels like it. Sixty seconds always adds up to a minute and sixty minutes in an hour and on and on....

           In this intentional Lenten-wilderness-time of being mindful, it is good for us to pay attention to time. When we pay attention we can remember the importance, the sacredness, the holiness of these hours that we’ve been given. It’s not forever, truly this moment is      just     for     now.

          We have been doing this pilgrim wilderness walk for days now, we are more than halfway through. There are moments when it is very clear to us that we know, deep in our bones that this very moment is the only thing we know that is really and it is the only thing we truly have.  


          For our whole lives we have been given words for different times of our different days and decades. We have been given different words to hold our hearts. We have been given words for us to mark a spot, to hold a place, to bring a purpose. Three of these words are timeless: Faith. Hope. Love.

       Words of faith so often hold our history. Faithful words describe what has brought us here, to this place. Words of faith hold our experiences, our stories. Faithful words remind us of our saints, those who have brought us this far along the way. Our faith holds our memory, and our memory holds our faith.

       Hope speaks to us of what is yet to come, what is yet to be. We are hopeful for the time that is yet up ahead for us. There, on up ahead we place our dreams and our visions. Up there, just beyond what we can now touch and see we allow ourselves to look forward with anticipation, expectations, and believing in what is yet to be.

       Love holds our words, our faithful, hopeful language for the time that it is right now. Love calls to this very moment. With love we know the core of who we are - our breath, our bodies, our past and our future all rolled into one. Love speaks to the strength and the courage that is demanded of us to stand in this moment. And in the very same moment love speaks to the grace and the mercy that holds us as well.

         So we continue, you and I -  left foot, right foot. Who knew this Lenten season would bring us right here, to this place and to this moment? We continue on because we can't turn back. All we know continues to guide us. What we are seeking, who we are seeking is on, up ahead. We journey on with time reminding us that we have it all with us -- what has been, all that is and all the will be. 

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