8 March 2026 #waterfalls

The first week of Lent we went out into the wilderness to learn a little about Jesus and a bit about temptation. Last week we went up the mountain to learn a little bit more about Jesus and a bit about transformation. This week we are heading down to the “waters” to watch Jesus interact with a sinner and learn a bit about… well, a lot of things, to be honest.

We’re in the third week of Lent – about the half-way point - and some of our Lenten practices are starting to get hard. Part of me wonders if I chose the right things. I gave up social media for Lent; I’m wondering how many birthdays I’ve missed, if that famous Irish-farmer-girl decided if sheep’s wool or hay makes the best ground cover for weeds, and what interesting new cases Dr. Beechcamp had in the pediatric ER. I’m not part of those social circles anymore and if I am honest, I kinda miss those folks. Unlike the Israelites in the desert, however, I’ve given up grumbling for Lent (also a work in progress), so there’s no use complaining about it here. Like the Israelites, however, our default position when something is hard is to make everyone around us as miserable as we are… through quarreling and testing. Misery loves company, you know.

Constantly dwelling on everything that has gone wrong in my day puts me standing squarely alongside the psalmist. It seems to me that the author of Psalm 95 must have been listening in on my conversations and decided to write me a corrective love song. Sing joyfully. Give thanks. Worship often. Three things that will turn my quarrelsome heart of stone into something that beats with kindness, compassion, and empathy. He’s spot on there.

So is Paul, in his letter to the Christians in Rome. They are under intense persecution and have every right to complain, but does Paul say to give-in-to-whining? Nope. He tells them to boast in the hope that all their sufferings will eventually end, and they will encounter Love Incarnate when their time comes. And he reminds them (and us) that the Holy Spirit has poured out into our hearts the love of God. The kind of love that is overwhelming, penetrating, and powerful. A little like standing under a waterfall, yes? If we’re attentive to the Holy Spirit and reveling in this transformative love, then who has time for anything but kindness and gentle conversations?

And now we have Jesus and the Woman at the well. She’s burdened by social exile and religious excommunication. She’s out wandering in her own little miserable desert. Only instead of Moses… she runs into Jesus and a wellspring of compassion. They have a conversation that radically changes her internal disposition. Note that her circumstances do not change. Only her attitude. Her world is forever changed because of how she thinks about herself in the light of God’s Word.

Maybe those are the lessons for us this third week of Lent: Stop complaining. Give thanks. Worship well. Speak kindness. Hold hope. And above all, bring compassion, grace, beauty, joy, and Love Incarnate to someone in desperate need. Be the wellspring in someone’s desert. #waterfalls