Dear Ones:
Remember on this Ash Wednesday, that "it is from dust you came and it is to dust you shall return."
These are the words you pastor will say to you as he anoints your forehead with ashes, making the sign of the cross.
There are two Scripture passages for you to reflect upon today, whether you have literal ashes on your forehead or not.
If you are unable to get to a church or other place to receive ashes, consider this:
Ask the Holy Spirit to anoint your 'spirit-body forehead' and let this be your Ash Wednesday observance.
Let scoffers 'scoff'. But even the most-hardened atheist/agnostic acknowledges what the medical community calls 'phantom limb pain' after an amputation.
Pray God these nay-sayers expand their minds to understand that 'phantom limbs' are nothing more than an amputee's 'spirit leg'!
No matter how you honor this day, here are two Scripture passages for you to reflect upon. Please take the time to use the link provided to read the extended readings which will help you to understand the concept of 'dust-to-dust'.
"5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[a] and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams[b] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the LORD God formed a man[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." Genesis 2:5-7 (NIV)
"17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”Genesis 3:17-19 (NIV)
LINK: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202-3&version=NIV
You realize that your life--all life--is precious and is 'fast-fleeting'.
The 'ashes' used on Ash Wednesday are made by burning 'last years' dried palm fronds from Palm Sunday which are saved, burned and blessed especially for this purpose.
No 'common' ashes here!
Everything in liturgical use is special in origin and utilization.
In fact, Good Christians have a sacred reverence for ALL that God has given us in the natural world...or we should have anyway.
So on this day, dear ones, take the time to reflect upon your own mortality and ask yourself the question: "If I die right now, what state of 'grace' will I be found to be in?
Is my life one which is pleasing to God, our Father and our Creator?
My prayer for all of you is that you enjoy peace-of-heart with the Lord on this solemn day, Ash Wednesday, free of doubt...and full of faith.
With Love in Christ
Reverend Barbara Sexton
"The Biblical Biochemist-Where Science Meets the Cross"
www.DearOnesHealingMinistry.blogspot.com
courtesy www.GospelGifs.com Jim Sutton
all animated dividers courtesy www.free-animations.co.uk
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