Ash Wednesday

For quite some years now, I’ve dipped into the Sacred Space website to help me pray. I don’t use it all the time, in fact, I don’t think I’ve used it at all for the past year. But today, being Ash Wednesday, I did use it again. I find it can be a really good way to stop and be still in front of my computer, and notice God again in my place of work. Below is printed the thought they suggest we think about for the day, and chew on for the rest of the week.

We are at the start of Lent, the time of the year when the church invites us to test our freedom, and to question the notion: I can take it or leave it alone. Try that with grumbling, drunkenness, talking about yourself, stealing, gambling, or other habits that diminish our freedom. What habits make you hard to live with? Lent is about regaining control of our own lives, especially in those areas that damage other people. We don’t admire those whose appetites or habits lead them by the nose. Nearly all of us have habits, or even addictions, that keep us from God, and harm both ourselves and others. These seven weeks before Easter help us to focus our energy on improving.