Ashes.

Images of devastation.  Fire.  Ruin.

Yet last week millions of Christians received a cross of ashes on their foreheads and heard the words, “dust you are and to dust you shall return.”

A reminder of our mortality and the brevity of life.  Surely over the past two years we’ve all had plenty of those.  But the season of Lent is also a time to pause, to focus on our lives, to work on our relationships with God and others.

It’s a time to let go of busy-ness and be present to God and the leading of the Spirit.

I was raised with the practice of giving up something for Lent.  In recent years I’ve begun taking on something positive instead.  Yet even with this positive approach it can become a time filled with “shoulds” and “oughts” and a burden of guilt.  This is missing the point, which is to draw closer to God.

This week at our Lenten study each of us had a picture of a camel.  On that camel we wrote our burdens,  things we carry which interfere with our relationships with God and His plan for us.

Here is my suggestion.  This Lent, instead of giving up chocolate or some other indulgence, let’s try giving up our burdens.

Anything that keeps us from God; that holds us back from hearing His voice and doing His will –

Let’s give those up.

Let’s lean on Him and simply enjoy His love.

“Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

He can handle our burdens much better than we can.  It will be hard, and we’ll probably have to do it over and over, but let’s lighten our loads and trust Him.

Grace Kennedy March 10, 2022