Week Three: The Wrestling
A Word for the Way: Guiding Scripture for the Week
"I will not let go unless you bless me."
—Genesis 32:26
Lent does not leave us in the wilderness.
It leads us to the river’s edge,
to the place where wandering turns to wrestling,
where the questions that once lingered in silence now demand to be met.
Jacob knew this place.
He came to the river as one kind of man—grasping, running,
carrying the weight of his past.
But before he could cross, before he could move forward,
he had to wrestle.
He had to stay in the tension, in the struggle,
in the place where neither victory nor escape were certain.
And it was there—
in the long, dark fight—
that something in him was changed.
Jesus knew this place, too.
The wilderness was only the beginning.
The struggle did not end after forty days of fasting.
It followed Him—
into conversations with those who misunderstood Him,
into nights of prayer where surrender did not come easily,
into the garden where His body trembled under the weight of what lay ahead.
This is where Lent leads us now.
Not to resolution, but to the wrestling.
Not to easy answers, but to the long, slow work of becoming.
This week, we do not avoid the tension.
We lean in.
We let ourselves feel the weight of what we carry.
We ask the hard questions.
We stay with the struggle instead of rushing to fix it.
The night is long.
The river waits.
We step forward.
A Practice to Carry: The Prayer of Staying
We do not like to linger in struggle.
We want to move through it, to resolve it,
to tie it up with certainty and move on.
But transformation does not happen in haste.
It happens in the tension, in the questions,
in the willingness to stay when everything in us longs to flee.
What have you been wrestling with in silence?
Where have you been tempted to turn away?
What if the wrestling itself is part of your becoming?
This week, let presence be your prayer.
Inhale: "I do not have to rush."
Exhale: "I will stay."
Not to force resolution,
but to let the wrestling do its work.
A Shared Practice: A Thread That Weaves Us Together
Throughout the week, you will find small invitations—
practices that extend beyond your own journey,
linking you quietly to those walking this path alongside you.
These are not obligations, but sacred moments of connection,
a reminder that even in struggle, we are not alone.
This week, on Thursday at dusk, wherever you are, step outside.
Feel the cooling air, the shifting light,
the moment between day and night.
Stand in the threshold of evening,
holding whatever you are carrying.
Whisper:
"I do not wrestle alone."
And then, ask yourself:
What have I been grasping for?
What am I afraid to release?
What might be given to me in return?
Know that others are standing in the same fading light,
whispering the same prayer.
A shared breath.
A shared moment.
A quiet tether in the expanse of this season.
The Invitation of This Week
Wrestling is not a sign of failure.
It is the sign of a faith that refuses to settle.
A heart that is willing to be changed.
We do not rush through it.
We do not force resolution.
We do not turn away from what asks to be faced.
This week will invite you to:
🔹 Stay in the tension – resisting the urge to flee or fix.
🔹 Name the struggle – being honest about what feels unresolved.
🔹 Listen to longing – asking what desire is hidden beneath resistance.
🔹 Hold both fear and trust – without forcing one to overpower the other.
🔹 Release what is grasped too tightly – making space for what is waiting to be given.
The night is long.
The river waits.
But something is shifting.
Even here, even in the struggle,
we are being formed.
Take a breath.
Step in.
Let yourself be changed.
