We live in a day where social media, political discourse, and even religious communities tend to reward those who take strong, usually loud, and unwavering positions of certainty. This certainty is often expressed through outrage against a perceived enemy. How dare they!
In such a time, admitting fault, confessing our biases, changing our minds, not knowing, or even pausing to listen and consider another perspective is often seen as weakness. But what if humility—the ability to say, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I was wrong’—is one of the most important spiritual practices available to us today? In a culture where certainty is idolized, perhaps what we need most are the reminders of our human limits—acknowledging that we are not as self-sufficient or infallible as we like to believe. And today, of all days, offers us that reminder.
Today is Ash Wednesday. Perhaps you have received ashes on your forehead, or you will see someone walking about who has—a sign of repentance and humility. Upon receiving those ashes, you likely heard the words:
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
It is a reminder that no matter how much we think we know, how accomplished we believe we are, or how firmly we stand in our opinions, we are still only dust—fragile, temporary, finite, and unfinished. From dust you came…and to dust you will return!
This long-standing practice of receiving ashes in the Christian tradition invites us into a kind of spiritual tabula rasa—becoming a blank slate. The ashes mark both an ending and a beginning. They signify the necessary work of letting go, burning away the illusion of our self-sufficiency and self-rightness, and making space for transformation—something new that has yet to be revealed.
It is in our willingness to be rewritten—to let go of the scripts we’ve inherited or imagined for ourselves, the grudges we’ve nurtured, and our incessant need to be right…that we open ourselves to a new and deeper lives.
Think on this…throughout the Gospels, Jesus models a way of being that is comfortable in unknowing. He challenges religious leaders not by offering more rigid answers but by inviting them to release their old ways of thinking.
Consider his interaction with Nicodemus (John 3). This respected teacher comes to Jesus at night, assuming he understands the ways of God. Yet Jesus tells him, “You must be born again.” In other words: You need a blank slate. You need to start over in your way of understanding. Your current framework isn’t strong enough to bear the full realities of life.
And then there’s Jesus, who humbled himself to the point of death (Philippians 2:5-8), taking on the form of a servant, pouring himself out, fully tasting the dust of humanity. He shows us that real power is not found in certainty but in surrender to the uncontrollable and unknown—death itself.
On this Ash Wednesday, I invite you to reflect not just on your mortality, but on the humility of being unfinished and not knowing. I invite you to become a blank slate—ready for whatever is set before you.
In a world addicted to being right, humility might be the most powerful witness we can offer. And maybe the path to deeper spirituality isn’t about accumulating more answers, but having the courage to let the fires burn, the ashes settle, and begin again.
Shane Ash 