Ash Wednesday

Growing up Catholic, Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent have always meant a lot to me. Today, I didn't go to a morning service to receive my ashes. I'm hoping to do this by the end of the day. Part of the reason is to more or less check it off my "Lent task-list." However, a newer and deeper part of me knows the meaning of it and I want to commit to this season of Lent by starting it off with this important sign. As Preston Yancey shared today on A Deeper Story:

"These ashes aren't magic. These ashes are a sign. A sign, like baptism, that it is time to go into the desert."

As my pastor was talking to my friends and I last Sunday, we likened Ash Wednesday and Lent to what Gandalf called, "The deep breath before the plunge." Unlike a final battle for all of Middle-earth, our plunge is into the celebration of Easter and the overwhelming triumph of Life and Love.

I hope that even if you are foregoing a formal Ash Wednesday service, you are in some way preparing your spirit for the "deep breath" and the trip "into the desert." My slow inhale is just starting. As usual, I let the season sneak up on me and now I'm running around my brain trying to organize the things I will take on and give up for this Lent. It seems to get harder every year. But at the same time, it is more meaningful when I stick to it. As my roommate says, sometimes we have to go to an opposite extreme of our normal routine to find that middle ground. 

It's how we balance out being actively in the world without being of the world.

This season, I'm aiming to shed some of my worldly weight and do some thorough housekeeping of my soul. I'm going to take the opportunity to let the desert teach me about necessity, fear, and freedom. The kind of freedom you can only get when you truly give yourself over to Love. I'm going to let it lay me bare. I want to talk more about that later. For now, I hope you all have a blessed Ash Wednesday.

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What do you think about Lent? What does it mean to you? Are you giving up/taking on anything really bizarre or difficult this year?