The Beauty of Ashes

I have been thinking a lot about the meaning of Ash Wednesday. For those of you that don't know what today represents, the basic answer is that our sin results in death and we need to repent and understand our need for a Savior. From dust we came. To dust we will return. Sounds kind of depressing.


Death is a reality. We all are going to physically die one day. But death comes in different ways. Today is a day to acknowledge our sins. To stare at our humanness. To repent. To accept. If possible out loud. To God. To someone else. Ask for forgiveness. Or forgive. Face the truth of our actions. Our participation in the things contrary to God's way. The part we have played in the death of a friendship. The death of a marriage. The death of a relationship. Repent and hear the good news.


The good news is Jesus. He offers us something beyond death. A chance to change directions. To surrender our way and live in His way. To choose Life. Not to ignore the past or to forget it but to move beyond it. Learning from our mistakes and our hurts and our messes. Owning our stuff. Admitting our part. Accepting the fact that we need a Way out. 


That kind of repentance is freedom not death. In that realization we get a new perspective of life. Life lived to its fullest. Here and now. Not just later. Today we look at the ashes of our past and acknowledge our part in it. But we look forward to the beauty of our future in gratitude. The realization that God is faithful beyond our desperation gives us a passion to live each day in thanksgiving. To see each day as a gift and a blessing. To live each day to its fullest so that those around us can see that our Hope is an outward sign of an inward faith. From our desperate needs and past mistakes represented in the ashes, we can look forward to the Life we were meant to live. Starting today.

I came so that they may have real and eternal life; 

more and better life than they ever dreamed of. 

John 10:10 the message