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God in the barren places

3.7.2025
|
Daily Grace

Lent can be an uncomfortable time because we are called to look at ourselves in a shaky mirror and see our raw and bare selves. Lent is a time to be introspective and reflective, but we are also called to find God in the bleakness of the season. We are called to look upon the brokenness of humanity, the despair of death, and the messiness of the world and see the Lord. We need to look past the stuff that weighs us down and makes us weak and, still hold on to God and be guided by God’s light that illuminates our path.

We can take time every year and see how God shapes us despite our flaws. God looks down upon us, and still sees beauty and possibility even when we can’t see it ourselves. We are considered masterpieces that incorporate our divots, scratches, and imperfections; still, we are beautifully imperfect and beloved children of God.

We are called to find God in barren, desolate places, and in the cracks of society. In these days of Lent, lean on the Lord and look for the One on high in the highest and lowest places, for there is beauty in the mundane and something in the nothingness.

This message is excerpted from “Finding something in nothing” by Ralen M. Robinson in the February 2024 Café online magazine. Today we commemorate Perpetua and Felicity and companions, martyrs at Carthage, 202.


Copyright © 2025 Women of the ELCA. Inquiries for permission to reproduce should be directed to [email protected]. If you enjoy this resource,
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