I am increasingly aware of the frailty of life this Ash Wednesday. With the rather sudden loss of my mother-in-law, and Rick's aunt, and four members of our church family last year, and the memory of my father's death on Ash Wednesday eight years ago, I am reminded of how delicate, tenuous and precious life is.

Traditionally, Ash Wednesday services focus on the brokenness and brevity of life to remind us that we were formed from dust and to dust we will be once more. For the saints of the faith who have gone before us Lent was a gloomy and miserable season in which they gave up something in order to prepare themselves for eternal life. Many of them focused on the physical denunciation of those things which brought pleasure. Still today many people fast from chocolate, soda, alcohol, dessert, and other pleasures. They fast from living a life of asceticism which is usually a short-lived and half-hearted fast. I too could and have given up those indulgences, but for me, this year, that doesn't draw me into a closer relationship with God.

So what do I fast from this year? Recently I've been wondering if my brokenness in life is reflected in how I see life; seeing it as a half-emptied glass, rather than a glass half-full, and maybe that makes me like those in our Scripture reading who wore their fast for all to see. My brokenness as a human being includes heart break at the condition of this world, and the treatment of God's people often to the point of distress. There are days when my brokenness can make all of life seem like a fast which results in a weighed down heart and an ashen-like spirit. Scripture reads:

So this year I'm trying something new: a yes for a no; a positive for a negative; a delight for a complaint; gratefulness for blindness. I'm not opting for a Polly-Anna philosophy, I’m opting for a life of gratefulness instead of blindness, because when I am focused on that which makes me frustrated or apathetic, on that which I can't control or don't have and think I need, I can't see what brings me joy and gives me energy; I can't see what I do have and don’t need. When I focus on the negative, I do not focus on God and God’s Sovereignty. This not only includes material things, but also goals, aspirations and dreams. Our lives can be filled with chasing the dream or reaching the next goal to the point that we loose sight of our present life. We become blind to what is right in front of us, the preciousness of life.

This Lent I am remembering the brevity and uncertainty of life by fasting from unconscious ungratefulness and feasting on seizing each day! I'm saying no to taking life for granted, to wasting the day by worrying about tomorrow, to wasting the day by regretting the past. I'm saying no, so I can say yes.

Yes, the journey is hard but I will rejoice in the presence of God. Yes, there are things I wish I could change, but I will be grateful even for the things I can’t change because they too shape my life. I will say yes so I can embrace this life God has given me, even a life which includes desert journeys, dark valleys and seemingly endless waiting. I’m saying no so I can say yes.

Death and dying is part of life and living, which is part of heaven and eternity; it's all one, it all reflects God’s beautiful vision and presence in the world. Yes, we are dust, but we are earthly dust, springing forth from a multi-million-billion-year "holy journey". We are fragile, but we are also part of a holy adventure reflecting God's love over billions of years and in unknown numbers of galaxies. Ash Wednesday invites us to take a "beauty break," to say yes to God and to life, so we may be more open to the awe-filled, precarious world in which we live.

In a little bit we will receive the mark of ashes on our foreheads, a reminder that we are marked for death, just as we were marked for life by God's very breath. You will hear, "from dust you have come, to dust you will return." This year you will also hear, "repent and believe the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel." Repent, turn around, live life fully in the moment appreciating God’s splendor, accepting God’s gift of grace and forgiveness as you travel this journey of life. Embrace the joy of knowing the Good News that Jesus traveled the desert journey and though tempted, was cared for and strengthened by God. Embrace life. May your own fast, your "no” be a "yes" to life.