Meditation: Called Beyond Our Certitude
Texts: Genesis 12:1–4a & John 3:1–17
Settle
Find a quiet place and become still.
Take a slow breath in.
Take a slow breath out.
Let your body rest.
Let yourself be here, in the presence of God.
Reflection
Lent is often treated as a spiritual self-improvement season but scripture invites us to go deeper.
Abram is called to leave what made him secure.
Nicodemus is invited to release what made him certain.
Both are called beyond control and into trust.
Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be born anew and from above — and speaks of the Spirit as wind, breath, life.
You cannot control the wind.
You cannot possess breath.
You can only receive it.
So the deeper Lenten question is not simply:
What habit should I give up?
But:
What certitudes do I need to release so God can give me new life?
And Jesus reminds us that even what looks like loss, fear, or wound is what becomes a place of healing in the presence of God.
What we thought would undo us may become the very place where grace meets us.
Beyond our certitude lies not chaos,
but a deeper kind of trust.
Reflection Questions
Sit with one:
What certainty am I clinging to right now?
Where am I trying to control what can only be received?
What might God be inviting me to trust today?
Prayer
Holy One,
when I cling to certainty, soften me.
When I reach for control, teach me to trust.
Breathe your life into me again —
your Spirit, your wind, your breath —
that I may be made new
and become a blessing for the life of the world.
Amen.