from dust you have come and to dust you will return

 It's Ash Wednesday, a day where we are confronted by our own mortality.  A day, that resonates in my memory because last year, Steve was beside me for the services.  I had a minor procedure the day before and it was he time to caretake a little and so he was with me for the services and so this year is hard, because while Steve helped every Sunday and with SO many things at the church, I vividly remember last Ash Wednesday and so this year stings a little more and hits a little different.  

A day focused on our mortality is something that the church and this world need to consider though.  We don't handle death, grief and mourning well in our society and so as I stand and impose ashes on the foreheads of the congregants and I contemplate my repeated words, from dust you have come and to dust you will return, it hits.  This body, the shell our souls walk about it need to be taken care of, yes, we need to eat well and exercise and be good to ourselves, but more so, it is the soul inside the shell we need to care for even more.  Our bodies will return to dust, but our souls, the part of us that connects to the One who loves and created us need the care.  It is our innermost being that needs to experience and know God so we can have a certainty of eternity.  

Ash Wednesday, the entrance to the Lenten Season, helps us step into a time of soul care.  So many give up something for Lent, for some they give up chocolate or coffee, others give up alcohol or smoking... but instead of giving up something, maybe we use this time to add in an aspect of soul care.  Could we spend more time talking to the One who loves us, could we get to know Him better by spending more time in the Word, maybe its giving up a meal and using the time to pray or just listen to God.  

I don't think we do a good job with death, grief and mourning in our culture, but maybe if we would spend more time cultivating our souls, that part of us that is intertwined with its Creator, we would have a better grasp on how to recognize our mortality.  Because death was never part of God's plan.  He desired His creation to be beautiful and very good for eternity, but He loved the ones He created in Their own image enough to give them free-will, which led to disobedience, sin and death.  So, we find ourselves in need of an Ash Wednesday, to remember who we are, to humbly come with a rended heart because there is a sting to death that earth cannot handle on its own.  Our souls need to have an encounter with the One who gave His own Son, to take our place.  

From dust we have come and to dust we will return, but only our bodies, these shells in which we walk. Let's walk into these 40 days before us caring for our souls, so that as we remember all God did through His Son Jesus Christ, we may be better prepared to help those experiencing the stong of death and ready to face our own.