Lent Devotional...2/26

Marvelous Error
Psalm 81

William Green

Every turn of events, however upsetting, can be raw material for something that surfaces with the sweetness of honey (v. 16b). Elsewhere in this Lenten sequence of readings, Scripture speaks of water and the satisfaction of thirst (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

Knowing this involves repentance. To repent includes looking again at what we face. "What have you done with your eyes?" asked Antonio Machado's mother when he was a boy upset about not getting the birthday gift he wanted. The Spanish poet carried that question with him the rest of his life, challenging the narcissism that locks us in the prison of our own image.

Can we look again at disappointment we have experienced, mistakes we have made, misfortune we have endured, apprehension we feel, and see that these did not have the last word, or need not? Can we see that sometimes there may be no shorter way to get where we need to go--no easier way to satisfaction?

In one of his poems, Machado writes:

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt--marvelous error!--
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures...

Weird dream? Marvelous error? Amazing grace?

Prayer: O God, be my vision and help me look again at what I face. Open my eyes to see and believe your promise of hope and deliverance. In Jesus' name. Amen.