brandyglows

I meant to write this blog post yesterday but I was nauseous most of the day. :/ And so now, in honor of the Art of Action class I’m taking, even though I don’t really *feel* like writing just this moment, I’m doing it anyway. >does victory dance<

I wrote a blog about Ash Wednesday and Lent two days ago, on Ash Wednesday actually. I talked about what I was adding (instead of fasting) this Lenten season and how excited I was that I got to see my husband during the week as he joined me for Pancake Tuesday and the Ash Wednesday service at our church. I was very happy with my post . . . until I got to church that evening. The service made me feel I’d left a bunch of good stuff out. It inspired me to write this blog, two days after Ash Wednesday. I hope I’m not too late!

“For dust you are and to dust you shall return.” – Genesis 3:19b

We talked a lot about death at the service. If you look at it one particular way, that’s pretty morbid. We are living, breathing dirt. And someday we’ll return to just being regular old dirt. We put ashes on our face as a reminder of this truth. We prepare for the season of Lent with this sobering reality in mind.

If you look at it another way, though, it seems way more miraculous than morbid. We are living, breathing dirt! We are dust that walks, talks, cries and has feelings! And we are that way because our Creator likes to play in the mud. God had to get his holy hands dirty to make us a reality.

I’m just starting to see myself as an artist. In just the first week of the the Art of Action course, I have been tremendously inspired by all of my blow-your-mind-talented artistic classmates. I’m finding the support and courage I need to really make this my job. But when I think about how my Creator lovingly created all of us and then generously passed on the gift of creating, I feel joy and gratitude that is beyond words.

At the Ash Wednesday service, just before we all walked up to receive our ashes, our pastor, Matthew, asked us to consider Passionate Love and Purification. He talked about fire. Ashes are the perfect symbol for fire. A lot of times we associate fire with negative spiritual connotations. But he urged us to view it in a positive light. Fire can easily signify Passionate Love. He asked us, as we received the ashes, and the words were spoken to us, “For dust you are and to dust you shall return,” to hear the Passionate Love our God feels for us. Fire can also signify purification. Lent is beautiful because it is a purification process. Matthew asked that as we took on the ashes we contemplate God’s Passionate Love and how we can participate with God in the beautiful, though painful process, of becoming more pure.

He also asked us to consider our own passionate loves, and how ashes relate to them. This, of course, brings me back to my journey as an artist and how I’m learning the Art of Action. Oh sweet, beautiful Lent.

^“1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
² to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
³ and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.” – Isaiah 61: 1-3