‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness….make straight the way for God.’~John 1:23

Today’s word in this Lenten practice is ‘voice’. I am looking forward to the images people might post on the #ReThinkChurch website that represent this word. It will call on a deep well of creativity! 

For those of us who find a creative outlet in words, ‘voice’ might seem to come much easier than images. And yet I think of the number of times I have sat with people who talk of ‘trying to find their voice’ or are lamenting having ‘lost their voice’. This is not due to some midwinter virus that has filled the lungs and stripped the vocal cords of sound. No. This is the result of some inner place of hurt or silence, some deep loss of being able to speak one’s truest self. Sometimes these statements are made by people who have hit some creative block and are reaching into some deep inner place to find the next line of a story or a lost word to fit into a poetic puzzle. More often than not, when we say we are trying to find our voice it is because, for whatever reason, we are unable to say something about who we really are, our deepest expression of our God-created self.

What does it mean to ‘find our voice’? As I reflect on the scriptures we share in the Christian household in these beginning days of Lent, Jesus’ forty day journey in the wilderness could be viewed as a time of finding his voice. He is confronted by temptations and is offered the lure of power and physical comfort and yet he stands strong…in his God-created self…speaking the truth that was planted within him, the truth he claims for the work of his life. He is not swayed or bullied and finds his voice for his own way of being in the world. 

As someone who has spent a fair amount of time coming to an understanding of what my true voice is, I know the push and pull of other’s expectations. Learning to listen to inner wisdom and trusting in it is a life-long practice. When we are blessed to find our voice and have the strength and humility to speak our truth when it is needed, it can be a powerful affirmation of who we were created to be. The same thing can be said for having the wisdom to know when this truth is best kept to ourselves. It is an ever evolving learning.

A week or so ago I walked out on a warmer, winter morning to be greeted by the songs of a tree full of chickadees. Their collective voice of hope was strong and I stood still and allowed their truth to wash over me. Yesterday I purchased a handful of purple hyacinths and placed them in a vase on my desk. Their fragrant voice now fills my office with spring song. 

Both bird and bloom were making their voice known…their God-given statement to the world…’I am here and I have something to say.’ Like a voice crying out in the wilderness, they declared the presence of the Holy.

May it be so for each of us.

***Check out people’s photos on the word ‘voice’ at rethinkphotos and #rethinkchurch.