Ash Wednesday.....The Beginning of Lent.....Remembering....

 ASH WEDNESDAY.......

The trees are bare.....the sky is gray....and the coldness that hits me in the face when I open the door causes me to feel numb.  So often this time of year, this Lenten season, life can sometimes feel hopeless deep in our very souls...

.....reLENTless, actually.

But last Wednesday, as I celebrated my third Ash Wednesday ever....in my whole.....entire....life; as Mark placed those ashes on my forehead in the form of a cross that differed from the way I was brought up, I felt Peace.  I felt Right.  I felt Honest....

I FELT THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

At that moment, the trees were green, the sky was blue and I felt the warmth of the Son upon my face.  Yes....right there on my face....right dab on my forehead was a cross between two major skin cancer scars....just like the two criminals sandwiched on either side of Jesus.  And I smiled.....

Because isn't that where Jesus should be?  In the middle of the muck, the dirt, the scars, the filth of our lives? 

And as I watched the line growing longer and longer up the aisle to the alter.....to receive and become a part of the dust to dust of ashes....to receive the wine and the bread that was broken and spilled for me, how could I not see the Amazing Grace in all of this?  And I watched, person after person, pass the pew I sat and waited my turn in, with a black cross stamped proudly on their foreheads and secure smiles on their faces, and suddenly, we all looked the same. 

Yes....Yes....I understand now.  We are all part of the same family.  We all have the same DNA. 

We are all "blood related".

And we hum Amazing Grace as we leave this place......we hum it from the deepest, darkest, places inside each of us and the sound is sweet....cause we all know we once were lost....but now we...

...Have Been Found.