Dear Ones of Trinity Church,
This evening, as I made my way from my office to the rectory, I took my usual path down the hall by the parish hall and out the back door. But tonight, there was a wonderful surprise waiting for me along the way.
The hallway outside the parish hall was covered in little confetti hearts. It was our usual Thursday evening choir supper, but tonight it carried a Valentine’s theme — beautifully decorated tables, special sweet treats, and heart-shaped confetti scattered across every surface. The tables had been lovingly prepared.
And as children are prone to do — and as I sometimes wish adults would do more often — they found the confetti hearts irresistible. They couldn’t help themselves. The hearts were scooped up and joyfully, generously spread throughout the room and into the hallway.
I did not witness the actual scattering of the hearts. I saw only the evidence of it. And immediately, I smiled. My own heart was warmed as I walked home on a pathway literally covered in hearts.
If only we would do the same with our own hearts — with our lives and our words. If only we would find such joy in spreading the love that already dwells within us. The hope that lives within us. The hope our Lord continually shows us.
As we come to the Last Sunday after the Epiphany and prepare to begin our Lenten journey, perhaps we might do so with the innocence, enthusiasm, faith, and hope of a child — while still holding the honest realities of adulthood and our sometimes shaky souls. Lent calls us into reflection and truth, yes — but never without love.
May we move through these coming days with the joy and freedom of those children, scattering kindness as freely as they scattered confetti hearts. May we spread God’s love generously, lavishly, without calculation - that all of us might walk each day along a pathway covered in love.
Peace and blessings,
Paul+