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TRUST GOD and BE ‘LOVED INTO CLARITY,’ one degree at a time.

March 20, 2025

Jeremiah 17:5-10 | Luke 16:19-31 | Psalm 1

I love our St Luke’s Lenten theme for this year, “Loved into Clarity.” What a good chance to feel how loved we are by God. The readings for today reflect deeply on the nature of trust. Is it misplaced or anchored in God? Jeremiah 17:5-8 underscores that a heart reliant solely on humanness is like a desert shrub, isolated, living in a harsh, dry, environment. A heart that trusts in God is like a tree growing at the edge of a stream, continually loved and nourished, even during challenges.

As I journey through Lent, I want to commit to explore the foundations of this all-important quality of trust. As children, our human experience can lead us to be open to relationships, or to build protective barriers. We may find speaking up for ourselves difficult, we may cover our anger and emotions to ‘stay safe.”  Some of us are never taught about God’s profound love of us. So, many set up barriers to relationships. I am familiar with one of these children. Defenses, built to safeguard, distanced them from feeling their innate goodness, their original, sacred nature. They feel their trust has been betrayed. Yet the essence of Lent calls us to look at these barriers…to reexamine our hearts and minds and to realign with God’s will. As adults this may make more sense now. We can choose to let go of our imbedded childhood armor and gain more clarity, with God’s help. Fr. Jarrett aptly suggests that Lent is an opportunity to move just ‘one degree’ closer to following Jesus. Are we willing to embracing God’s divine trust which requires vulnerability, a willingness to let of our perceived control and acknowledge that God’s wisdom is greater than ours? Like the tree beside the stream, we are called to trust where we are…rooted in God’s love and sustained by his word…giving God a chance to lead, heal and transform us! This is the chance to look at our own trust and be “Loved into Clarity”. The choice is ours! Do you trust God enough to trust his love… Just one more degree?  

Judy Ireland

Photo from author’s garden