I love this song from Michael and Lisa Gungor - "Beautiful Things".
First encountered it at church camp a decade ago and it haunts me.
I wonder if God can really get through to my thick, stubborn self.
I wonder if God can really work through me to make a real difference.

I hope it haunts you too,
   in a good way...
 
​- Ken

Beautiful Things, by Michael & Lisa Gungor                        
All this pain
   I wonder if I'll ever find my way
   I wonder if my life could really change, at all
All this earth
   Could all that is lost ever be found?
   Could a garden come out from this ground, at all?
 
You make beautiful things
   You make beautiful things out of the dust
   You make beautiful things
   You make beautiful things out of us
 
All around,
   Hope is springing up from this old ground
   Out of chaos life is being found, in you
You make beautiful things…
​

Mosaics: Beauty from Brokenness
Each of us has experiences of brokenness. We likely also have stories of how that was redeemed into beauty. Our tendency is to focus on the pain and loss, ignoring the blessings. Here you are invited to honestly notice and acknowledge both, inviting the Holy Spirit, and the community, to journey with you toward wholeness. Receive and integrate both into your life as part of what has made you who you are. And trust that you are still on the way to the fullness of what you will be.

​My Brokenness:
 
My Beauty:
 
Other things I want to notice, and perhaps to share:

GIVING UP AND TAKING UP

What hinders your encounter with God? In what ways are you broken that prevent you from embracing the joy, peace and beauty of God’s love being continually poured out for you, and through you for the world?

Lent it a time of reflection and intentionality toward renewing our lives and moving toward wholeness. We seek to understand and move away from the things within and around us that cause or exacerbate our brokenness. Simultaneously we embrace those things that will promote our healing and flourishing. We might frame this as a meditation on what hinders or enhances our connection and intimacy and faithfulness with God.
So, what might you “give up” or “take up” during Lent? Here are some thoughts:

• Give up – self-doubt, self-judgement, self-criticism
• Take up – accepting that you are a beloved child of God
• Give up – over-achieving, fiercely independent, autonomous thinking
• Take up – embracing that you need others and they need you
• Give up – a scarcity mentality that hoards time, energy, money and possessions
• Take up – an abundance mentality that trusts and gives extravagantly
• Give up – fear of strangers and suspicion of outsiders
• Take up – finding ways to make friendships across difference

Whatever you give up and take up this Lent, may you find that these practices draw you closer to God and deeper into your authentic self.
​