In just two days, we gather to observe Ash Wednesday.  We’ll humbly bow to receive the ashes upon our foreheads.  We’ll be reminded that from ashes we come and to ashes we return.  God created Adam from the dust of the earth, thus the reference to the phrase “from Ashes we come.” At our death our bodies will be returned to the earth, “to ashes we return.” Lent, our most penitential season, gives us forty days to ponder our unworthiness and our Savior’s love for us.

I sometimes find that music helps me to “think on these things.”  Perhaps you do too.  Today I offer a new Lenten hymn titled Forty Days. The chorus carries the message beautifully:

From ashes we came
To ashes we return
Blessed by the name of the Lord.

I pray that each of will be guided through these forty days, guided to humbly confess our sin, and graciously to praise our God for his goodness to us.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Judy