Ash Wednesday Already?

How can it be Ash Wednesday already? I don't know why I'm surprised that it is upon us. Like Christmas it comes with regularity, but I'm caught off-guard. Why is that?

I think it's because I'm always trying to catch up to today. All the "to do's" and people that need meeting and letters to be written and emails to read and ... and ... and ... . They all tell me that I am behind and I need to work faster and harder and more efficiently and ... sigh.

Thank you God for Lent! Thank you God for Ash Wednesday when I remember ...

R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R

... that you are God and I am your servant. From dust I have come and to dust I shall return. Not just any old dust. Cosmic dust. Dust that has the breath of God giving life to each particle of my being.

Lent is a time to slow down and ... R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R ... who God is and that we are His. Lent is a time to look at who we are in Him and sift and sort through that which keeps us from knowing Him intimately, keeps us from being more like Him, keeps us ... separated from Him. Lent is a time to deal with the sin in our lives that needs confessing and of which we need to repent.

While studying Psalm 51 I discovered that the word in Greek for God's mercy and steadfast love are the same. I stopped and considered that. God's mercy and steadfast love are the same for our lives, for my life, for your life. God's mercy. God's steadfast love ... His loyal love. Stop. Look. Listen. ... Stop. ... Look. ... Listen. ...  God's steadfast loyal love is His mercy for us. It is His sure forgiveness for us ... if we take time to receive it. That is what Lent may offer us if we take time out of our "to do's" and away from all the meetings and letters and emails ... to receive it.

God's steadfast loyal love awaits us this Lent. What a wonder! God bless you as we begin this journey through Lent.