In Every Life

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Since I can remember, I have loved Lent – the distinct liturgies of Ash Wednesday through the Easter Vigil, the marked change in season, the purple-ness. Commonly, it has been a time for me of new or renewed spiritual practices. This Lent, with the run of winter illnesses and the generosity of Minnesota’s snow (80+ inches at writing) as well as the joyful companionship of a two-year-old, I have not been able to walk through it in the ways that I am used to. I have wondered how to practice Lent faithfully in this season of life.

"In Every Life" picture book by Marla Frazee

One of the answers was waiting for me at the library in the form of “In Every Life” by Marla Frazee. In the intro, Frazee writes “In 1998, during a service at All Saints Church in Pasadena, California, I heard a call-and-response version of a Jewish baby-naming blessing and immediately felt its potential as a picture book. The original source of the poem is unknown, but it has been adapted and used widely in welcoming ceremonies of all kinds.” Frazee’s adaptation and illumination of this prayer is just that: a prayer for all ages that engages sight and sound. My toddler, husband, and I all sit and wonder about the moments in life and relationships that she captures.

Each Sunday in March this Lent, we read a gospel passage from John about relationships, belonging, and how people experience or miss God-with-us in Jesus. Through these sacred stories our Holy imagination is directed to look for God within relationships. When I look at Frazee’s illustrations, I glimpse different everyday moments: blowing bubbles, playing with a friend, tears, an arm around another, potty training. I see the ordinary and I see the Holy in these moments and the relationships she has captured. I wonder where you will notice God in this story.

“In Every Life” by Marla Frazee. Published by Beach Lane Books in 2023.

P.S. If you, like me, can’t get enough of “In Every Life,” it would also be a good fit for when we read The Beatitudes as a faith community with the rhythm of the words “In every…, blessed is…”