I also considered the answer from my
daughter-in-law when asked what she used to make herself beautiful and she
said the basics – soap and water and a smile.
Thoughts about smiles came to my mind when
I read a Lenten message by the Rt. Reverend S. Johnson Howard, 8th Bishop of
the Diocese of Florida.
Bishop Howard said Ash Wednesday should
make us smile!
When you consider that I have been
"churched" since birth – and have never had a time that I was not
involved in worship and service in a local church, you may be surprised to read
that I am a relatively new participant in the holy day of observation known as
Ash Wednesday.
I believe my first Ash Wednesday experience
was a mere 16 years ago when I attended a service at the Church of the
Assumption with Rich Suhey. To my recollection, I don't believe I have missed
an Ash Wednesday service since that one.
Prior to that, if you had asked me about
Ash Wednesday I would have known nothing. I would have probably just said it's
the beginning of a time for repentance, a time when people give up something
they really enjoy as a sign of their repentant heart.
I would have thought it to be a bleak,
dismal and sad experience and that the dark smudge on one's forehead
represented all of that person's sin,
I now understand that repentance is not the
first thing. God's Grace is.
In Bishop Howard's words, "when we
recognize that Grace, it is the first step to our repentance which leads us to
conversion and turning of our hearts toward God."
Which means the important thing about Ash
Wednesday and about this Lenten Season should not be the dark smudge on our
foreheads, but the smile
on our faces... and the joy in our hearts on account of Him who
died for us and rose again.
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