...to dust you shall return.
I went to Ash Wednesday services yesterday, which is especially appropriate since I actually celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans this year.
Then I went to Target and the library and the coffeeshop, and had several split-seconds of wondering why people were looking at me funny before I remembered I had ashes smeared in the shape of a cross on my forehead.
To confess, this is one of my favorite times of year, though I know we're supposed to be soberly observing Lent and remembering our own mortality. I try to adopt a new good habit in addition to giving something up, so right now I'm in that fun couple of weeks where this new thing is still exciting and I haven't gotten bored with it yet. Then comes a couple weeks of forcing myself to do it, until I finally achieve my goal--actually making it part of my routine.
I see Ash Wednesday as a beginning--that faint shadow of a cross on our foreheads is a suggestion of what's coming. As we get closer and closer to Easter the cross becomes more distinct--until Good Friday, when it is a bold symbol we cannot miss.
posted by Christy @ 11:18 PM
1 Comments:
I like your observation that the ash cross on Ash Wednesday is a foreshadowing of Good Friday. I always feel so solemn when I put that cross on people's foreheads and say, "Remember you are dust, and unto dust you shall return." I want to make something else up that's cheery to go with it. But that wouldn't be truthful, would it, or faithful to the spirit of the day! Just me trying to keep spirits up in the psychiatric hospital, I guess. Thanks for your blog.
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