Ashes

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

These words were spoken to me tonight as the heads of myself, my family and my church congregation were marked with ashes for Ash Wednesday. I haven’t done this in 20 years.  My first thoughts go to death of course, my own mortality. I look down at my daughter and her ashes and realize someday she will die too.  That is life, but knowing that doesn’t keep me from being terrified of it. 

My thoughts then wander to: how many fellow Christians through the ages have been marked in this way- with ashes, with the same words spoken over them?  I would guess that for probably hundreds of years maybe over a thousand years men and women have been marked in this same way.  Ashes. My mind wanders again to the Old Testament where the mournful and repentant would cover themselves in ashes.

My fear and sorrow turns into awe and beauty, as I find myself united with my brothers and sisters in Christ and believers in God throughout the world, the centuries, and through the ages. I stand in awe of the enduring love, respect, and fear of God that has withstood the test of time. I stand in awe that I have been chosen to be a link in the chain that spans across time. That I, that we, are connected in a great and mysterious way to a great, powerful, and loving God-our King of Kings.