Lord, may you help us all to follow you in humility and joy, straining like racers to follow you on the upward call of God!

Our God is faithful, bringing shouts of joy after captivity and exile. Let us praise this God of the Israelites who is our God too, leading us from sorrow to joy, from tears to laughter.

As we focus on Jesus this week, let’s remember that even though Jesus was on his way to his death, he continued to find people. He continued to accept people where they were: lost. He celebrated that they were found.

God allows us to remember, and then welcomes us home, even though we don’t deserve it.

In reading today’s passage, during this season of Lent, I am reminded that completing some of the most important “tasks” in my life is itself not the goal. Instead, these tasks serve as means to continuously progress towards much larger and long-term goals for myself, and our world.

Psalm 32:9 encourages us to “not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,” but how do we become unbridled?

I invite you to repent daily during this Lenten season—to find time every day to reorient yourselves in the embrace of a loving God and to share that love in your daily life.