Ash Wednesday

What if the we consider that the ashes remind us that life is fleeting.  Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Throughout the gospels he shows himself to be giving life, revealing life, and calling us into life. And that’s not about tomorrow, after you die, or some heavenly future. Life is now. The temporary nature of life means that this one moment, this now, is priceless. There will never be another moment like this one. The preciousness of life means that we are of infinite value to God and the world. In the beginning when “God formed man from the dust of the ground” the very next thing God does is to “breathe into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” The question behind today’s ashes isn’t whether you will die, or what you will give up or do for Lent, or how to improve yourself. The question is, “How will you live before death?” So then what if our Lenten practice this year was to reclaim our life? What would it be like to reclaim the things that give you the abundant life God promises?