Our psalmist knows that it would delight the Beloved if we would hearken to God's voice, pay attention, and walk in the ways of Love. We are created by Love, in Love, with Love, and for Love. Yet how often we ignore that we, each and all, are God's children, created in the image of God, how often we harden our hearts, and walk in our own self-centered ways.

The Lenten season can serve as a wake-up call to notice how far we have missed the mark of self-giving love that God models for us. Once our eyes are opened to see how far off track we have become, how lost we are in our wayward divisions, we may come to realize it is time for a change, our need to turn around and face God, to welcome the Holy One into our hearts here and now.

Only then can we begin to recognize how thirsty we are for the “living water” Jesus describes in our gospel for today, how parched we have become wandering in the wildernesses of our lives. It is then we can hear the call to hearken to the voice of God, the voice that is forever calling us home, to take the outstretched hand reaching out to us wherever we may be, allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us from within Into the imago dei we were created to be.