Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

It's so comforting in an odd reflective way. I can only expect so much of myself, because compared to His glory, I'm only ashes. Yet, it's these ashes that He has done so much for and is willing to continue to shower his love upon.

Wearing them around town is stating my brokenness - in a healthy, whole way.

Today, we've been preparing our minds for Lent. We've been preparing our bodies (with abstinance and fast) for Lent. We've been preparing our home (with purple) for Lent. We've been preparing our spirits (with reflections on our own sinfulness and what we need to do to be in unity with Christ) again.

Yes, we've been doing a lot of preparing our spirits. The children each asked if they could make a prayer book for their lenten prayer time. Yes, my loves, you can approach the King of kings with quiet and reverence.

And preparing our home. We'll redo the children's alter and allow them to make it their own. We have a set of melaware purple plates & bowls we use for every meal time during Lent (it was really cheap end of summer @ Meijer). I often hang a poster that has a large crown of thorns drawn on it and each child can make a flower out of their color of napkin for each act of love (you know those cheap ones with 4 colors in a pkg of 500 for $2.50) and tape it on the crown of thorns giving Jesus a crown of flowers by the end of Lent. We cover many of our statues with purple cloth (my husband hates that part - thinks it looks dumb). It's a painful exercise because seeing the emptiness where our beloved Mother should be is jarring for the children and me. It really reminds us on a moment-to-moment basis that this is a special time to strive for reconciliation.

Schoolwork will continue...with the hardship of trying to peacefilled and loving in our interactions with eachother - hard in the middle of daily stress, but oh, so important. It bears beautiful fruit in our lives.

Knowing that when Daddy comes home, we'll go to Mass to receive the outward sign of ashes to show the world what we've been preparing our spirits for. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust...it really is a comforting time of knowing where we're headed (tword Christ in Easter, but through his pain and suffering) and knowing He'll be there to help us every step and fall we make.