Lent 2025: March 20

Yes, I missed the 19th.

From Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy

"Lament helps us embrace two truths at the same time: Hard is hard. Hard is not bad."

As mentioned previously, lament is more than the common idea of a weepy person. I still have not fathomed it. But I am amazed by the paradoxes of our faith, and how people want certainty rather than the tension and uncertainty of paradox and we are not really allowed that. Love and justice. Sovereignty and free will. We want those resolved and they just won't be, really, until eternity; so today we just ignore the other side and make all love or justice.

Paradox is hard. Hard is not bad. We have built a civilization around hard is bad. We have definitely built an education system around it. "Learning should be fun!" Hard is not bad.

My husband's brother died, and he wants me to go to service and viewing 6.5 or more hours away. I don't want to . It's a nuisance, and I was not fond of his brother, to say the least. He was not a good person. But then I realized it might be okay. I will survive it. I will see some folks I might never see again in this life.

Hard is not bad.

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