Happy Ash Wednesday.
Um… that’s probably an oxymoron.
I mean, c’mom, you don’t want to read, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” when you open your birthday card, right?
Growing up, Ash Wednesday wasn’t really on my family’s church calendar. Nor was Lent. I guess as Presbyterians, we weren’t predestined to celebrate it (note, if you are a Presbyterian and celebrate it, I guess you were predestined to celebrate it. My church just wasn’t.) I would note my Catholic friends giving up chewing gum or would occasionally see a smudge of dirt on their foreheads, but I didn’t really get the power of today. Yes, I knew the scripture behind it and always admired Jesus’ strength for being able to hang out in the desert for 40 days and to avoid the Devil’s temptation (second note, this was an 8th-grader’s understanding of the Good Book, don’t @ me your Sunday school take, please.) But I just didn’t GET it. One of blessings of youth is being naive when it comes to death.
But there were rude wake up calls. A friend’s dad was taken from him too early. When I got to college, two classmates were run over by a drunk driver right in front of my dorm. I heard the impact and saw the bloodstains for days. Another friend died while drinking and driving. Other classmates died in a plane crash over the Smokies.
Death began to peck at my armor of perceived immortality. But that was someone else’s problem, right? Three of my grandparents died in their late 80’s. My maternal grandmother passed at 95. I had decades to waste, right?
A malignant melanoma took a chunk out of my armor (and back) in 2001. Random deaths of classmates, illnesses of friends, stumbling across fatal car wrecks and then the deaths of my own parents stripped it away all together. We all die. And we don’t know when. It can be slow. It can be sudden and unexpected (Luke Perry? C’mon). The best we can hope for isto die in our sleep (as Kenny sang in the Gambler.) Most of us won’t be so lucky.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
Today is a powerful day. As I stumble, bumble, refine, focus and appreciate the 40 days of Lent, I will struggle not to live in the past or worry about the future. Death is a part of life. My goal is to face it with no regrets. Yes, I am giving up a few things and cutting back on some others. This is a handy time to get some goals and obtain them. I’m also adding a few things, too. I hope to come out of my proverbial dessert a stronger husband, father and man.
The moment we are in is a blessing. Ash Wednesday is a very strong reminder to seize that moment and make the most of it. Time is precious and it is time to treat it that way.
Happy Ash Wednesday. Peace be with you. And if you’re giving up chewing gum, good luck. My friends always said that was a hard one.