On the Christian calendar, today is Ash Wednesday. It is the first day of the season Christians call Lent. We get the word lent from the Old English word lencten which simply means spring season. We all know what Easter is about, and early Christians realized the value of preparation for it. They chose to set aside a period of 40 days of preparation (or 46, if you include the Sundays). On Easter we celebrate the resurrection, Jesus's defeat of death. But to appreciate the joy of Easter, we need to remember the suffering and pain that put Jesus in the tomb. In his suffering, Jesus took on the world's sin. That means he took on my sin. For me to appreciate the depth of Jesus's love for me, I need to take a sober look at my own sin. That's what the season of Lent is all about.
This season begins with Ash Wednesday. Many Christians attend church services today in which they receive a cross-shaped smudge of ashes on their foreheads. The cross shape obviously reminds us of the Lord's death for us. But the ashes remind us of our limitations and mortality.
After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God told Adam,
By the sweat of your faceUntil you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”
