Yesterday was Valentines Day! It is our annual celebration of love. There are cards and chocolates, flowers and special songs, special meals and sometimes declarations of everlasting love. It is a very lovely greeting card holiday that makes a lot of people very happy. It is also a commercial bonanza for certain companies who sell us what we are giving to our loved ones. Unfortunately, for those who do not have a “special someone” it can also be a difficult time, if they are alone. That everyone around them is in a frenzied celebration of “couplehood” just underlines their single status.
Yesterday was also the first day of Lent, known as Ash Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday it is traditional to go to church to have your hand or forehead marked with ashes in the shape of a cross. The ashes are created by burning the dried palm fronds from last year’s Palm Sunday mixed with oil that has been blessed. The words said at that time are “you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. It is a reminder of our mortality and for us to begin to prepare ourselves for the death, and ultimately the resurrection, of Jesus.
On the surface, these two days are very, very different! One is fun and froth and love and laughter, and the other is quite serious and sober. But they have more in common than we might think. Ultimately, they are both about love and celebrating life. And of the two, the deeper, more inclusive one is Ash Wednesday. It talks about mortality, but being mortal reminds us how important it is to take each day and to live it to the fullest. We can’t put off seeing loved ones or saying that we love someone indefinitely because tomorrow is not guaranteed, either for us or for them. Lent is our reminder of that.
Lent also reminds us of how much God loves us and the amazing lengths that God will go to show us that love. God doesn’t care if we are a single, a double, or somewhere in between. If we’re a baby, child, teen, adult or a senior, tall or short, skinny or “sturdily” built. God cares about our hearts, and our souls, and how close we are to God, and to each other.
So take a little time over this week to prepare yourself for your Lenten journey with God. Remind yourself that your Spirit is an important part of you that needs time and refreshment over the upcoming weeks. Remember that you are dust! (but very lovable dust!) Made of the same atoms as the sun and the stars and connected to everything that is, that was, and that will ever be created. Stardust!
