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 3:19, NIV)
It is now Ash Wednesday, the first day in the start of Lent. Lent (or Cuaresma, as I know them in Spanish) is forty days of fasting and introspection, ceasing the goods of temporary pleasures in order to reflect on the mighty cross of Jesus. It is austerity shown in a month and a near half.
Is it funny that I’m not pretty much of an ascetic –except for fasting (I need to work on that one!) I don’t have to fast every day for forty days to show God I want to change my ways. I don’t have to stop eating pork and meat in order to stick to a strict regimen of fish and veggies (though, sometimes Mami makes fish on Good Friday) because I know there’s no difference. Not even did I have o worry about having ash sprinkled on my forehead signifying that I will return to dust at death! I didn’t grow up with many requirements to celebrating Lent, not even Ash Wednesday; I did grow up, in fact, growing to respect what God has done for us every day of the year.
But I come up with this: What will die out? What is the purpose of rites and ceremonies I consider frivolous and unnecessary? (I respect many traditions that Lent holds.) Will the dust become to more dust? The course we run is yea rugged, words cannot even explain. Our sins are tallied in a way that we cannot even get close without dying ourselves. That was destroyed yet long ago, when Jesus chose to be made dust with no need to. It is true, to dust we return… Even better, we will return to the One who created eternity! The dust is settled, pardon my pun! I love You so, Jesus, that death will not impede my blameless future with You.