Claiming Our Belovedness - An Ash Wednesday Reflection
Alison Fischer
Today, we remembered that we are made of dust and to dust we shall return. I appreciate the rawness of Ash Wednesday and Lent. It is a season where we make intentional changes in our lives, through incorporation or fasts, with the hope that these changes will bring us closer to God as we prepare for Easter.
Lent is not a season to invoke suffering. It is more so an opportunity to grow in our relationship with the Divine so we may be confident in how beloved we are and the boundless grace that is bestowed on us. It is a season to reflect on the life of Christ and the radical nature of living out His teachings.
What needs to be stripped away or enacted to live the lives we were created for? What is distracting you from your relationships with the Holy Trinity and the people in your life? How can you honor your body and life with healthier choices? What repentance and amends do you need to offer and then what changes need to be made so that issue is behind you? This is a season to dig in deep into our faiths and the transformation that develops from our rootedness in God.
It is important to remember that we are dust and that death is inevitable; but while we are living this life, we have this awesome opportunity to bask in our belovedness and to love others in their holy belovedness. This life in Christ is a continual dying of our selfish natures and a resurrection in redemption and radical love for ourselves and others.
Living in the past is destructive. Holding off for the future is foolish. Is your now a true reflection of the life you were created to live? Let this season of Lent be a time to bring you closer to God and the wholeness that is waiting for you.
Remember you are made of dust and to dust you shall return. Remember you are beloved. Remember you are alive and there is work to be done. Sunday is coming.