A Pre-Lenten Reflection

What is your why? 

Funny enough, one of the first series I ever did on this website was on Holy Week. As I was preparing for this year's Lenten series and my thunderous return to this blog, I was reflecting on how I wanted to frame my writing going forward. When I started this website I was 18, freshly into my second semester of my first year of college, and desperate for a connection back to the one thing I knew could be constant: Jesus. 
I'll never forget that year, that choice to start this space online for people to feel seen and known by the Lord, and for me to express how much Jesus really did love you. (He still does, by the way.)
In my first post on the site, I finished it with my purpose: 

"This website is here because of the work that Jesus is doing in my life. He has blessed my heart with the passion to teach and help grow His kingdom in every aspect. Even if you don't know Him or have no intentions of knowing Him yet, I promise this website is for you. From life talks to playlists, this is meant to become a community one day. I'm so excited for what God has in store for me and for you. I cannot believe this is happening. I cannot fathom the goodness of our God. Wow."

Full transparency, that brought back a wave of emotions revisiting it. As I sit here and read that paragraph and think of what this Lenten season should be about, I'm reminded of two things: the woman at the well and hell. 
Weird, right? 
With the first thing, I think of how powerful the story of the woman at the well truly is. If you're unfamiliar, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at the well and asks her for a drink. A HUGE no-no in this polarizing society where Samaritans and Jews were expected to hate each other. Jesus sees this woman, and rather than taking her life story and using it as a way of deeming her unworthy, he sees her as one worthy of knowing the gift of the Gospel, of the Living Water, of one who can carry the Gospel as a transformative lifeline.
I don't know about you, but my life isn't perfect. I've struggled with how I view others, how I view myself, and how I act. Yet God, in His loving mercy sees our mistakes and our missteps and invites us to His table through repentance into a glorious life. HOW COOL! And with our transformation, we are capable of introducing this transformative light to our neighbors, friends, families, and strangers. 
Now about hell. As a child, my local churches invited the author of 23 Minutes in Hell to speak about his recent publication about his experience visiting hell. Obviously, as an inquisitive child, I for some reason thought that this book was something that I could read (I was quite wrong). To make matters worse, the song of that summer was Demons by the band Imagine Dragons, and when I started reading the book, that song came on the radio and I had thought God was going to come take me right then for not listening to my parents about how scary the book was. lol. 
In a 2024 interview, Pope Francis said

"I like to think hell is empty; I hope it is."

In an attempt not to begin a conversation debating the existence of hell, I'd like to say that this has really stuck with me. Pope Francis has created a legacy of love and passion for humanity in a way that is so often misconstrued. He is relentless in his pursuit of knowing all there is to know about God's people, in my opinion, in an attempt to see Jesus in every single person. It is hard to exist that way, to look into the eyes of everyone that we see and meet and see God in them. However, as you grow in pursuit of knowing all there is to know about God's people and seeing Jesus within them, you are able to plant seeds of hope and love within them as small as a mustard seed. And through this pursuit of love and compassion, we can hope for a hell that is empty because Heaven is just so crowded. 

God, I thank you for the opportunity to come to You in awe of Your goodness. Your forgiveness and mercy, Lord, is unfathomable. Teach us to tend to Your flock and to see the least of these like You see us. Forgive us, Lord, when we expect anything but a Heaven full of Your people. Your love is our lifeline, may we rest in it forever. 
​Amen.