Ash Wednesday
Tomorrow may be my favorite day of the year (and not for the obvious reason of having a day named for myself). But it is Ash Wednesday…a day on our Christian calendar marking 40 days to the biggest day of the year…the Resurrection Day. For centuries, this day of Ashes has served as a reminder to stop, reflect, and begin fresh again. Why? Because we need the re-start, we need to remove the spiritual safety blankets and pacifiers of routine, traditions, time-wasters, self-pleasing behaviors, and the settling of less-than-holy in our thoughts and words. We need to confess, to repent, to turn our passions back into God’s passions.
“That hollowness we sometimes feel is not a sign of something gone wrong. It is the holy of holies inside of us,
the uncluttered throne room of the Lord our God. Nothing on earth can fill it, but that does not stop us from trying. Whenever we start feeling too empty inside, we stick our pacifiers into our mouths and suck for all we are worth. They do not nourish us, but at least they plug the hole.” - Barbara Brown Taylor, The Christian Century, 1998.
Lent is a chance to decide whose we will be…our own, or His. Lent is a chance to decide what masters us…our habits, or Him. Lent is a chance to empty ourselves of us…and create space for Him.
