...a word from Kathy

W hen the week came for my big 4 – 0 birthday, I was not too thrilled.  My husband had planned a small dinner with friends who I knew shared in my “oldness.” But for me, I was not looking forward to the evening as it represented a desert of sorts, a dying.   Few of us love to be reminded of our growing age and the downside of life.  The badge of 40 was heavy. These forty days of Lent may land in that same category.  This may not be the loveliest season of the Church calendar.  There are no gifts to be bought and no decorating to be done.  It’s a solemn time.   Could it be said that we dread these forty days? We are not the first humans to experience forty days of waiting and meditating.   •In the story of Noah, “rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.” Genesis 7:12 •In David and Goliath, God’s people endured forty days of taunting and challenges from Goliath before David is sent to the battlefield.   1 Samuel 17:16 •And after...

I get so confused in this month of February.  Does the groundhog see his shadow or doesn’t he?  Is this a good thing or a bad thing?   And, then Lent begins, and the wilderness is the first stop.  Wilderness seems dry and isolated.  Both events have an element of darkness which can cause one to feel lonely, fearful, and aimless. I’ve lived days in the shadows.  I’ve lived days and months in the wilderness.  These times were not chosen moments of mine but ones where I found myself.  These days seemed long and tiresome.  The days were filled with questions, pain, and a search for answers.  I confess, I never choose the wilderness and the shadows.  Those places dig too deeply into my mind.  And it’s not an Instagram worthy life.  There are no happy pictures or having the time of my life stories. Are there?      Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Matthew 4:1 Have y...