“But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did …” - Lk 13:1-9
Today’s gospel takes us into
familiar territory, places where people suffer and question: Why? Jesus
does not answer the question, but calls each of us to repent and journey into
one more season of cultivating, pruning, and growth. He proposes to change the
way I live, unravel and reweave the way I understand life, let go of my
projections, and be more willing to stretch myself towards the direction of
goodness and light. He invites me to be open to an idea that in all things
there is both something broken and beautiful, a shadow of hope in every sorrow,
and how rejoicing is no less rich when it contains a splinter of grief.
As a child,
I learned about the waves while swimming in Marina Del Rey. If I tried to stand
and face the wave, it would smash me. But when I trusted the water and let it
carry me, I found authentic moments of peace and sweetness. Years later,
each wave represented a choice and how God would encourage me to live a bigger
story - one not about me and not consisting of an answer, timeline, or map.
As I mine
back through my heart and memories, I noticed my most sacred moments developed
when I allowed changes to work their way in my life and when I chose to float
instead of fight. In trusting God and surrendering my tendency of
self-reliance, I respected the things that change forged in my life and learned
humility in receptivity, awareness, and simplicity. Repentance is the means to
reclaiming the life entrusted to us, the way to become most authentically who
we are and who, at the deepest level, we long to be.
What might
repentance look like in the waves of my life?
Tam Lontok
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