Ash Wednesday

When I wrote my novel, Burning Faith, I knew the story needed an arc - a place where it began and a place it ended. At first, I thought the story began when the church burned to the ground on Christmas, but I now know the real story began after that tragic event. It began not in the fire but in the ashes. The characters gathered on Ash Wednesday and placed the ashes of their church on their foreheads and began their walk through the important but difficult days that led to new life.

It's a familiar arc with which we all can identify. Dramatic events come whether we want them to or not, leaving behind piles of ash. “Now what?” is the common refrain when standing before a pile of ash, and it’s at that moment all stories begin.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of Lent, the day when Christians around the globe gather and have ashes put on their foreheads with the words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” It’s as somber as the church gets. It’s as real as any spiritual day of the liturgical year.

Ashes initiate the season, begin the story, if we let them. They remind us that we come from the earth and to the earth we will return. What we do in between is up to us, and God. Grounded in our humanity, we get the chance to face our unvarnished lives, to push our hands into the mounds of ash, and search for the life that awaits on the other side of that messy work.

It's not work for the spiritual amateur. (Better those folks focus on not eating chocolate.) But for those of us seeking spiritual growth, no matter the cost, this is our day. This is our moment. It’s time to get our hands dirty and awaken to the arc of our souls’ divine story.

Lent 2025

A season like Lent has always appealed to me. A limited time to step up my game was an invitation I readily accepted only to find myself giving up or limping my way into church on Easter because I tried to do too much or gave up too much.

This year, I’m focusing all my attention on a simple question: In what direction am I headed? It’s a question that can be applied to all facets of one’s life – professional, relational, physical, and, yes, spiritual. Broad in scope, the question looks at progress over perfection, not where one arrives, but where he or she is headed. 

·      In what direction are my relationships headed? Am I taking them for granted, or am I putting renewed effort into them? Are their some that need special attention?

·      In what direction am I headed professionally (or vocationally)? Am I making a difference? Am I being challenged or am I just going through the motions of doing things I’ve always done?

·      Am I growing healthier or not? Do I push my body at all, or do I prefer to sit on the couch watching Netflix eating Bon Bons?

·      And what about my faith? Am I growing closer or more distant to God? What do I do because of my faith, if anything at all? What don’t I do because of my faith?

Somehow, the question frees me of an overwhelming to-do list. It focuses on my intentions and, from that, things will be done, or not done, depending on the direction in which I am headed. I believe, in the end, this will be an effective new approach to this important season.

Focusing on my direction is simple but profound. Who knows, I might even be in a new place come Easter, which has always been the intention of the season.

Driving in Snow

I live where people are afraid of snow. Having grown up in the north, it’s sometimes difficult to understand closing schools before a flake has fallen and clearing the grocery stores of all bread and milk. I have to remember I grew up with snow, they didn’t; I learned how to drive in snow, they didn’t.

And yet, watching people cloistered in their homes for days because there’s snow on the ground, seeing cars drive off the road because they think snow makes no difference, or getting stuck because they crawl along shows me how fear causes people to respond in different ways. It shows me how dangerous fear can be . . . with or without inclement weather.

Fear can make people hide in their homes (or self-created places of safety) instead of engaging with the world outside. It can make people act brave and hit the gas as if they’re invincible. It can also cause some to slow to a crawl where it’s only a matter of time before they get stuck.

The issue is not the weather, or the way life shows up. It’s the fear and the way it controls us that matters. As people of faith, we accept that fact that life comes on clear and snowy days. How we navigate our way through varies, but the key is getting in the car and learning how to drive in all conditions - that, and knowing we’re not making our way alone.