On Sunday, I was moved to tears when I heard the hymn, Ashes, for the first time. It speaks of dreams lost, goals missed, commitments only partially fulfilled-the failures that sting us in the night. Yet these constitute the ashes of the heart we offer during Lent.
We offer You our failures,
we offer You attempts;
The gifts not fully given,
the dreams not fully dreamt.
Give our stumblings direction,
give our visions wider view,
An offering of ashes,
An offering to You. –> –>
From this offering of ashes God can create a clean heart, a purer soul, we hope. But even if not, even if all we have is ashes, perhaps God will find a way to use them. This set me to thinking about the ways we use ashes. I’ll see what I can come up with.