The older my girls get, the more I understand the Abraham and Isaac story.  If anyone is to find life, all must be offered up.  If any are to find their true freedom in God, it will come as we yield our claims to anything.

In this week's Sunday lectionary, we once again find the Israelites complaining their way through the wilderness.  We hear they had become impatient.  We hear them say, "Why have you led us out here.  There is no food nor water, and we don't like the food that is here."  What?!!  So it is not that there is no food, they simply don't like what is before them.  It took them 40 years to learn to lay their expectations on the altar, to learn they had to let go to find life.

So at 52, I would have thought I had learned more about laying things down myself.  I still want to cling.  There are few joys more deep than seeing who my girls are and watching them find their way in the world.  I also find myself at times wishing I could hold on to those cute little girls who with eyes as big as the moon asked you to play on the swingset.  It is not just those old experiences to which I want to cling.  There are many more including understandings about all manner of things, but if I put them here, I will have nothing to bring to confession.

Like the Israelites, I need to walk through the wildernesses that present themselves, learning to trust that God is in my and our midst.  Whether clearly seen or not, the food is there.  Whether or not it is what I wish to feed upon, the food is there. And God is there.

As we continue our pilgrimage through Lent, may we continue to offer our selves, our souls and bodies, both personally and communally, to God.  May we find the courage of Abraham to put those things we most hunger for, those things for which we yearn most, and to which we most want to cling, on the altar.  In so doing, perhaps like him we will find our life as we never knew it before.

Blessed Lent,

Todd Donatelli