Ash Wednesday - 6 February 2008

So? Are you going to take it seriously this year?

Many people find thinking about themselves or the future an uncomfortable experience. But if you work at it, it is a very enriching experience. One method I have found that works is to go on a long walk by yourself when you can spend time with yourself. As you walk along you can review your life. When were the good times and the bad times, the ups and downs of your physical and spiritual journeys? When I mapped these two lives out, to my surprise, the good times physically seemed to follow the ups of my spiritual life. Maybe I should not have been surprised, but it was a real encouragement to me to discover that.

Lent is a good time to review where you are going, both as a human being: in your job, your home, your family and friends, and in your spiritual life and your relationship with your God: in each to go back to hopes and dreams of yesteryear. When you die; when the last of your life fades and all that is left are memories, what would you most like to be remembered for? And do you have the courage to do something about it? For that is the rub – we’d love to but somehow the will to change has been eroded by the pressures of this world. Why not sit down with your partner or a friend and talk about old times, when your faith was red-hot, when all life seemed to be an endless opportunity. Could you, should you change? Well, yes you can if you have left behind some of your life’s desires. After all we only do get one life, and wouldn’t it be better not to regret you didn’t do it to the end of your life?
So it’s Ash Wednesday – time to take stock, to resolve that we will do something about things in our lives that are unhelpful or have been allowed to drift. Let’s do it!