St. Helen’s Daily Lenten Devotional
For most people ‘off-the-grid’ means not using, or being dependent on, public utilities, especially electricity. Alternate sources of power are often substituted, solar and wind power being two well-known options.
Those who enjoy cottage properties without electricity often use more basic things to function, at least some of the time…propane, generators, a wood supply, batteries and lamp oil, for example. And they feel the satisfaction of self-reliance, a pioneer experience, and a simpler lifestyle.
Sounds idyllic to some of us!
But what if you are ‘off-the-grid’ spiritually? As we mark one year of the pandemic, we are all too familiar with isolation. What if you feel disconnected from the Higher Power? That experience, especially to anyone of faith, is not one to celebrate. The separation can take place gradually, of course, as we rest within a comfort zone littered with activity, toys and money and other ‘important things’. It can be due simply to laziness, good habits focused on prayer and worship moving down the list of priorities, thus damaging the open communication with God we had, perhaps, previously enjoyed. (This brings to mind the invitation to observe a holy Lent.) Or we could feel cut off from the Holy One due to sin, and then it becomes soul crippling. For whatever it is that we are doing, saying or thinking, which is not ‘of God’, the reality of it, and the consequences, are ‘mea culpa’, ‘my own fault.’
The power isn’t down at source, it’s a local problem which requires a local solution.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
Psalm 139:7-10