“Within the heart are unfathomable depths. It is not a small vessel: and yet dragons and lions live there, and there are poisonous creatures and all the treasures of wickedness; rough, uneven paths are there, and gaping chasms. There, likewise, is God, there are the angels, there life and the Kingdom, there light and the Apostles, the heavenly cities and the treasures of grace; all things are there.”
~ The Homilies of St. Macarius
We’re smack dab in the middle of Lent.
If your accounting of days is knocked akilter, let me remind you that I’m Orthodox, and our Lent doesn’t often line up neatly with Western Lent. This year, we’re a week behind. I’ll be the one raiding the stores on April 22nd for discount chocolate while the rest of you are wishing you hadn’t spent your life savings on hollow bunnies that are currently haunting your dreams and digestive tracts.
Anyhoo…
Today is the Sunday of the Holy Cross. It’s right there hanging out at the midpoint of Lent for a multitude of reasons, but today…
Today it helps me remember that after death comes rebirth.
That we’re not done.
That no matter the grief, or the sorrow, or the death, there is more waiting around the corner.
Sometimes we need every reminder we can get. Sometimes in the spaces between the light, in the spaces where we don’t think the light can reach, it is good to remember that there is nowhere that the light can’t reach. We just need to open the doors.
“Never doubt in the darkness what you know to be true in the light.”
~ Fr. John’s memory, and a rough amalgamation of John 12:36, Raymond Edman, and Mumford and Sons)
Lent, like life, can be rocky. It can be dark and sometimes scary. But rebirth requires first darkness and death, and the light is already piercing the shadows.
Life will reign again.
New.
And full.
Last week, my Godson, Baby Nicholas, was baptized.
Baby Nicholas wasn’t thrilled with the baptism proper. We rarely are thrilled with the dying, even though it is prerequisite to the living. You can’t blame the little guy for getting a little disgruntled.
When all was said and done, he survived it.
And we will too.
“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”
~ Orson Welles
Waiting for the Sun,
KJ
Tucked happily into the gorgeous hills and woods of Wisconsin, I write about life, faith, and the humor that both require. 
Tales From the Nexus 
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