Sloughing

My husband was just freed from two months in a cast. Anyone who has ever been in a cast for an extended period of time knows what happens when it comes off: the startled realization that your skin has become….well….icky. Scaly and crusty with layers of shed skin. At best, it looks like lizard-skin. What a relief to have a scrub with some warm water and a soft cloth, adding a touch of fragrant lotion to start softening the tough calluses.

Sometimes I’ve let myself drift into creating a spiritual cast, surrounded by hard schedules, inflexible routines and to-do lists that scratch uncomfortably. Lent can be a time for me to notice the constrictions that have built up. The gentle presence of the Water of Life, which busyness hides from my eyes, melts away the hardness, and invites a heart of soft, new skin. Skin that rejoices with the warmth of the Sun of Righteousness, the Wind of the Spirit, and the cleansing of Forgiveness. It’s a joy to slough off the layers of transgressions. As wonderful as lizards are, I was not created to be one.

--Laura+