Our collect for today recognizes two aspects of our being as we ask God to" keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls" in the protective embrace of Divine Love. Even so, we are aware of our own responsibilities in both those areas as well. Take some time right now to think about how you are doing on your part of the equation, outwardly in what the world sees and inwardly where God sees.

We know it's important to develop good habits of eating, sleeping, working, exercising to keep our bodies in good working order. And certainly the season of Lent is a good time to check out our soul habits to ensure they are working well to deepen our relationship with the Holy One. There, of course, needs to be a lively balance of our outward and inward intentions as we go through our days, weeks, months. Few of us, if any, are perfect in carrying out our share of our outward or inward ideals. Fortunately, we can trust that, regardless of our frequent straying from the straight and narrow, the Beloved never lets us stray from the Divine Presence.

The psalmist today uses the phrase "whole and sound" in regard to our sinlessness. That phrase speaks to me of God's desire for each one of us. When we are not whole and sound, we find that God is always reaching out to us in some profound and personal way to bring us to healing and reconciliation, always at work within us, transforming us both outwardly and inwardly into the imago dei we were created to be.