Ashes to Fire
I remember as a child that at the end of each harvest season, we would burn the left over stubbles of grain still poking out of the ground. The controlled burn would leave ashes on the ground, ashes in the air, ashes drifting down upon us to mark the dying season and the beginning of winter. The weeds were gone. The land would lie fallow and soak up the winter snow and rain, preparing for a spring that would surely come.
And in due season, a new crop would rise up, just green stubs poking out of the ground, but then rising with sunny days into full grown plants, and finally bringing forth fruit once again.
I remember it happening in Colorado as well, not crops this time, but the surrounding forest. There had to be controlled burns each year to clear the forest, to prevent catastrophic, out-of-control burns that could consume acres in a day. There was nothing as eerie as walking through a forest of ashes, nor nothing as breathtaking as walking through the same piece of land and seeing the inevitable push of new life come rising to the surface within weeks.
Ashes are necessary to get rid of the weeds, to prevent out-of-control damage. Yet there is nothing as wondrous as ashes that give way to life that bursts with such exuberance that it is like a fiery spirit within.
And so it is that the we mark ourselves with ashes each year. We acknowledge the season, we seek to burn away the weeds in our lives, we try to prevent the damage that comes from a life unexamined, allowed just to run wild. We observe the season of ashes until the new life of Easter comes upon us. Then we grow through the green, maturing season of Easter, until the fires of Pentecost break forth within us to a life that moves beyond ourselves and bears fruit for others.
Ashes to Fire… 90 days… death to life to power…. Let us journey together, beginning on Ash Wednesday, February 17.
Grace & peace…
Woody
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