When we think of ashes it often brings to mind something that is no longer around. We think of a house that's burned down or a person's remains after their death and cremation. Ashes are a reminder that something once was, but now no longer exists.

Rarely are ashes associated with something happy, hence we throw flowers at a wedding, not ashes.

This week we passed Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. The season of Lent, much like ashes, also has an unhappy association. It is perceived as a gloomy and dismal time. People ask, “What are you giving up for Lent?' People feel like they have to give up their favorite treats – chocolate, cigarettes, steak, red wine.

But if you think about it, Lent is not about death and gloom but about new beginnings. We are told in Genesis chapter 2 that when God created the world, God took common dust and dirt and formed it into the shape of a human being. Then God breathed into the man's nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being.

God is also able to breathe new life into those parts of our community, our world, our nation, our neighborhoods, our families and ourselves that are dead and have turned to ashes. Our broken dreams, past traumas, and areas of personal failing can also have fresh life breathed into them. Therefore, there is something paradoxical about ashes because while they signify death, they also represent the hope of new life.

Lent is a time of new beginnings: when we willingly submit to letting what has passed turn to ashes, these ashes become a fertilizer towards the New Growth.

Ashes are symbolic of those parts of us that carry no vitality and are unfruitful. What the Church calls 'sin' is in fact ‘practices, preferences, habits, actions and ideas that are incapable of giving life to ourselves, our community and the world.'

Therefore, we are invited into a forty-day period of repentance called Lent. Repentance is not a trite apology and is not meant to be an act of guilt-ridden self-flagellation either. Rather, it is a commitment, followed by action, to do things differently than we've done them in the past. To take steps towards more fully realizing our God given identity and destiny.

Lent is also not a time of white knuckling through 6 weeks of agony – discomfort for discomfort’s sake. Rather, it is about submitting to the deep work that God is already doing within us. We cannot totally change on our own, but through God's ability, and not our own will power, we are able to grow in beautiful ways. We can become more loving, more generous, less fearful, less worried, more peace-loving, more courageous, and more deeply connected to others and the world around us.

On Ash Wednesday Christians use black ashes to make the sign of the cross on their foreheads. Though this may seem odd to some, it carries a beautiful meaning: it is an outward symbol of an inward commitment to embrace the demise of what's dead in us and submit to the deep work God is doing in us as we change and grow.

The Paradox of Ashes