Happy Ash Wednesday
Happy Ash Wednesday!
I know that's not the traditional view of Ash Wednesday, as it is a day of repentance. We wear the ashes in reflection of Jesus's death and sacrifice for humanity, and the opportunities it's provided for redemption.
It's a solemn service and a somber mark of religious purpose. With Ash Wednesday begins the 40 days of Lent in which we make our own sacrifices, to whatever degrees, however frequent. We donate ourselves with mindful pleasure to God and to shaping our lives in a cohesive image of that for which we were made extant in the very first place.
Kneeling on the tiled church floor this afternoon, glazing out of my periphery all the other occupants of the church, I fought to gain a sense of understanding and direction from a higher place than my own mentality. I arrived at a comforted peace, a paradoxical faith of my own, when I realized that my individual Lenten journey is that very struggle.
There is no more that God wants of me than this very struggle, at this very moment, in this very life. God never asks for more than we are readied to give him, just as he never gives anything we are not ready to recieve.
Today is a day of joy for me. Today is a celebration of the peace that defines the struggle more clearly than the struggle itself. Today is beautiful. I rejoice in every isolated second of the togetherness of me in my religion; of me in God; of me and God; of God in Me. And these next 40 days are dampness that precedes the rainbow-- the nasty smear of sunscreen that allows a gorgous time for laying out in the sun. Whatever analogy you prefer, it still remains alive in me that 40 days of conscious sacrifice is my greatest pleasure, as it is my truest gift.
Happy Ash Wednesday, everyone! Welcome to Lent.
I know that's not the traditional view of Ash Wednesday, as it is a day of repentance. We wear the ashes in reflection of Jesus's death and sacrifice for humanity, and the opportunities it's provided for redemption.
It's a solemn service and a somber mark of religious purpose. With Ash Wednesday begins the 40 days of Lent in which we make our own sacrifices, to whatever degrees, however frequent. We donate ourselves with mindful pleasure to God and to shaping our lives in a cohesive image of that for which we were made extant in the very first place.
Kneeling on the tiled church floor this afternoon, glazing out of my periphery all the other occupants of the church, I fought to gain a sense of understanding and direction from a higher place than my own mentality. I arrived at a comforted peace, a paradoxical faith of my own, when I realized that my individual Lenten journey is that very struggle.
There is no more that God wants of me than this very struggle, at this very moment, in this very life. God never asks for more than we are readied to give him, just as he never gives anything we are not ready to recieve.
Today is a day of joy for me. Today is a celebration of the peace that defines the struggle more clearly than the struggle itself. Today is beautiful. I rejoice in every isolated second of the togetherness of me in my religion; of me in God; of me and God; of God in Me. And these next 40 days are dampness that precedes the rainbow-- the nasty smear of sunscreen that allows a gorgous time for laying out in the sun. Whatever analogy you prefer, it still remains alive in me that 40 days of conscious sacrifice is my greatest pleasure, as it is my truest gift.
Happy Ash Wednesday, everyone! Welcome to Lent.