God Is Here, And So Are We

Desiré Findlay

Today’s reflection is by Desiré Findlay, a certified spiritual director living in the Chicago area who enjoys sunshine, life and anything that makes her laugh or think deeply.

Today’s readings for the First Sunday of Lent can be found here.

Laugh, Then Start Again

The winds came to take it all away

They billowed and blew and said,

This isn’t meant for you!

They knocked me down

like sandcastles on the shore

built so high

there was nowhere else to go

but down

I stood the next day

Looking out at the emptied landscape of my life

and I laughed

because I knew this was my chance

to re-enter the world

and start again

God’s providence and my active participation. That’s what I think about when I reflect on today’s liturgical readings. I wrote the poem above a couple weeks ago, after reflecting on some of the recent events in my life.

I was laid off from a job last month that I had actually been thinking about leaving. It was a good job and a great organization, but it was Catholic. Normally that’s not an issue, but as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I had to be fairly quiet about my personal life and that had begun to weigh on me. I was in the midst of considering a new job offer when USAID (United States Aid for International Development) was devastatingly dismantled.

The organization I once worked for relied on USAID for half of its funding. With such an overwhelming loss, they made the decision to lay off about 25% of their staff to try and keep as many assistance programs running as possible. My team of nine  lost four people. Some staff saw this coming, others were blindsided.

I was applying for other jobs long before international aid became a target of the current administration, but I had been searching for my own personal reasons. As it turns out – and always turns out – God’s timing is impeccable. While my team still shrunk down to almost half, I volunteered to go and was able to save another team member from termination because I had another job to turn to.

I’ve been in between jobs before, but in the most recent past I didn’t have any new opportunities on the horizon. I went hungry many nights because I didn’t have enough to pay my monthly bills, despite having a temporary job while incessantly seeking full-time employment. Even then, God never left me. I had people to support me and keep me lifted up until I could stand on my own.

This time, however, things played out differently. This time I started looking for a new job before I needed one. As a result, I had a new job lined up right when my other job came to an end. Will things always work out this way? No. Was I doing something wrong the first time and that’s why I had such a long gap between jobs? Again, no. God shows up in our lives differently, but God always shows up.

All of the passages from this Sunday’s readings tell us that God is here for us in abundance and always will be. For example:

We cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors,

and God heard our cry

and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. (Deuteronomy 26:7)

The readings also tell us we have an active role in that relationship. A story about the oppressed stepping into power – where have you seen this before? A psalm whose repetition urges us to call on God in times of trouble – are we not in troubling times now? A letter reminding us to keep God on our minds and in our hearts – are there moments you’ve needed God in both the calm and the storm? A Gospel reading with an  introductory verse reminding us that God is with us even in the barren wilderness – where else do we turn when everything feels impossible?

International aid – its staff, programs, and recipients around the world – all of that is in trouble right now. Some of us are directly affected, and when one of us is affected, we all are.. Unfortunately, there are more of us on the agenda now. Women. The LGBTQIA+ community. The poor. Immigrants.

It’s a lot, so take a break when you need to. Spend some time with God in the quiet, away from the news and social media. When you’re ready to step back in, don’t do it alone. Do it with your community, your chosen family/families, and with God. God is here, and so are we.

–Desiré Findlay, March 9, 2025