Covered With Ash

Today is Ash Wednesday, and so part of my morning has been getting ready for tonight's worship service. That preparation, of course, involves dealing with ashes, and I've realized (again) it's impossible to deal with ashes without getting it all over you. (There was also an incident in the office yesterday that resulted in ashes all over my office floor...but that's a story for another time!)

Of course, that's sort of the point of Ash Wednesday. The ashes represent our mortality...our sin...the ways we separate ourselves from God. The imposition of ashes, a traditional part of the Ash Wednesday worship service, is a reminder for us to mourn our sins, and during the service we are called to use this season of Lent to draw nearer to God. If the ashes represent or remind us of our sin, then getting them all over us is appropriate because that's the way sin works.

It's impossible to dabble in sin without it getting all over you.

Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent it initiates is a good time to be reminded of that truth, and to use this season as a chance to refocus, to rehabilitate, to move as far away from "the sin that so easily entangles" (Hebrews 12:1) as we can.

Because it's impossible to deal with ash—and sin—without getting it all over you.

I wish you a blessed Lent. May these next forty days help you draw closer to Jesus than ever before.