Lent 2024: Ash Wednesday.

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments.”

Joel 2: 12-13a

I ran out of time today. I didn’t get to church for ashes, didn’t fast during breakfast or lunch, didn’t spend extra time in prayer. I also failed to get K or Z Valentine’s gifts, so I’m 0-2 on the holidays.

My mum-in-law, Everis, is with us currently, and she shared with me some of her devotions for the day, which included the above Scripture. She elaborated: “Even if you don’t get the ashes on your forehead, it’s not the outside that needs the work. We have to work on our hearts.”

And she’s right, of course. Lent is a time to prepare for the Resurrection, to prepare our hearts for renewal. It’s a time to tear down resentment, rip out jealousy, break from habits that keep us away from God’s love.

So come with me, as I once again, blog through Lent (really, I’ll try, but I may miss some days). As I wrote last year, “I try to blog daily. Big emphasis on try, though, because sometimes, like last year, I don’t come close. The spirit is willing, but the flesh, and my blogging habit, is weak.”