Wild Geese Poem Helps You Rest in God's Love
Feb 22, 2026Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
~A poem by Mary Oliver
The Lenten season begins in the wilderness. But Mary Oliver’s poem reminds me that we "don’t have to be good". "We do not have to walk on our knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting." I love this poem, especially in this time of year.
This week, Luke 4 reminds us how Jesus was led into the wilderness. The temptations weren’t just concerned about bread, spectacle, or power. The main temptation was around Jesus’ identity.
“If you are the Son of God…”
The wilderness does not simply test Jesus’ competence or commitment. It reveals whether he will cling to performance or rest in his belovedness.
During the forty days of Lent leading up to Easter, we journey through a symbolic wilderness.
"If you are really beloved of the divine..."
It’s not simply testing our competence or our commitment. Will we cling to performance? What should I give up? Sugar. Social media. Alcohol. Complaining. Honestly, probably all of those. But perhaps a better question is: What might I notice if I slowed down? How can I rest in my belovedness?
Wilderness is vast. Often quiet. Which is usually uncomfortable.
Yet, when we allow the Lenten season to slow us down, when we stop numbing or distracting ourselves, something usually surfaces.
Maybe we notice:
Fatigue we have ignored.
Grief we have postponed.
Anxiety humming under the surface.
Longing we have not named.
Yet, none of this is failure.
It is revelation.
The wilderness is not meant to shame us. It is meant to show us what has been running the show. The goal is not to condemn what we see. It is to see clearly. And noticing clearly may lead us to freedom.
All in all, remember your identity. A child of the divine. Beloved. Cherished. This is where wisdom rests.
And "whoever you are, no matter how lonely,/ the world offers itself to your imagination."
You are beloved.
Katie Rea, WTC Writing Coach
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