Streams of Mercy

The journey theme has always held a special attraction for me. Life itself is a journey! I saw this advertisement of a cruise to Alaska: “Make your journey worthy of your destination.” In other words, let that particular company take you to that special place in the special ways that only that particular company can! I thought how well that fits the journey of life and faith as well - we, too should make our journey worthy of our destination!

Living in Jackson Springs, I find myself surrounded by nature, with each season having its own special beauty and gifts. Ecclesiastes reminds us “for everything there is a season…” and each season has unique lessons to teach and gifts to bestow to those with hearts to receive.

Years ago I read, Seasons of the Heart, by Sister Macrina Wiederkehr. “The seasons of the heart change like the seasons of the fields. There are seasons of wonder and hope, seasons of suffering and love, seasons of healing. There are seasons of dying and rising, seasons of faith.” This book does a great deal to help make our journey worthy of our destination! We have an understanding of God walking with us on life’s journey, and it’s important to recognize that God walks with us through the seasons of our hearts as well.

Sister Macrina offers this as one of her prayers for the journey:

“Jesus, you are the only One who can free what is captive

in me. You lead me out of my self-made prison and bring

to me the good news of a year of jubilee. May this be that

happy promised year. May this be the year when I let you

all the way into my life. May this be the year when

everything that is ruined, lying fallow, and unrooted in

my life be raised up, renewed, and discovered. May this be

the year when I give my energy to my heart’s desire.”

May our journey through the changing seasons of the year remind us of the journey through the changing seasons of our hearts as well.

Elizabeth