It's Ash Wednesday today. Lent begins.
The Ash Wednesday service contains the ritual Application of the Ashes, with the pastor smudging a cross of ash on the worshiper's forehead while saying something like
"From ashes you come; to ashes you will return."
While I'm far more of an "Easter Christian" than a "Lenten Christian" I have grown to appreciate some aspects of Lent, and this year I will count Ash Wednesday among them.
As I've gotten older, I've seen myself getting more convinced of my own views. I've begun believing that I know more and more, and thus I find myself questioning less and less. This attitude may be reassuring, it may be stabilizing, it may even be natural, but it also leads me into thinking I don't need to look for answers anymore.
Lent helps us realize that we don't have all the answers, that we aren't always right, and that we need something greater to help us. This is a message I need to hear.
As always, I will miss the "Alleluias," "This is the Feast," and hymns that aren't in minor keys. When Easter comes, I will be glad of it.
But that's part of the point, right? In the meantime, may God calm my mind, and open my heart.
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