March 9, 2023

website admin2023 Lenten Devotional

Prompt thought of the week:

Oftentimes we believe that we must “deserve” the love we receive. We work, work, work to get approval and to feel like our life is justified — pulling our own weight, thinking that whatever life we create and love we get is only what we ourselves can conjure up. But the scriptures today offer the image of God as our “keeper” — always helping, always present. Nicodemus has followed all the rules and done everything HE can do, and yet he is still looking for love — for tangible connection with God. Jesus says that he must be born “of the Spirit.” It’s not all up to simply “doing the right thing!” It is about allowing the Spirit to help birth love in our lives.


In 2018 I traveled to Europe by myself as my husband does not love traveling abroad. I felt quite comfortable traveling on my own and was having the time of my life on the Sound of Music bike tour in Salzburg, Austria. I was literally singing, “The hills are alive with the sound of music” when boom-I braked too hard and flipped over the bike landing on my knee on the hard cobblestone. At first I didn’t want to accept the help of others-I was embarrassed and humiliated and didn’t want to make a scene. However, ultimately I had to rely on a kind soul to call a taxi fro me to take me to the emergency room. There were more kind souls there who took care of me- the foreigner, the stranger.  The diagnosis: a broken patella.  

I was on the phone with my sister crying as I was in pain and scared. She helped me figure out a flight home and I remember her telling me, “You will have to rely on the kindness of strangers.” As Mr Rogers advised I began looking for the helpers. A kind woman in the train station ran up the stairs to buy me a ticket with only minutes to spare before her own train arrived. A distant cousin came to pick me up in Munich even though she was struggling with her own health issues. God’s love was evident in many places as witnessed by those embodying that love. I was not alone.

Psalm 121:8-God guards you when you leave and when you return. He guards you now, She guards you always. Amen

Susan Dunaway-Tsujihara