I love car rides with children. I haven’t had the joy of picking my granddaughters up regularly from school as they are now in school full time. But every once in a while, I am reminded of the just why I love a good car ride with one of them.

It’s all in the conversation.

Yesterday I picked up my 7 1/2 yo granddaughter and headed to our destination – dance class. We had the normal conversation starters at first and then she opened a new topic to discuss.

“Mimi, turn around and look at me.”

“I can’t do that while I am driving.”

For a few minutes, she tried to convince me of how I could do this safely while yet driving. Finally she said, “Never mind, just tell me – Do you have ash on your head?”

I explained I did not. In the simplest of manners, she went on to explain it was Ash Wednesday, and Lent. In her simple and unique style, she told me she wanted ash on her head. In fact, her desire was so great for ash, she tried to make ash on her forehead with her pencil during school.

As we passed a church, whose parking lot was filled to the brim, she said, “Mimi, see this church? All these people are getting their ash. Pull in and let’s go get ours.”

I respectfully explained to her our church does not hold to this tradition, and steered the conversation to the meaning of Ash Wednesday. But there was so much more I wanted to share.

And so, sweet girl, this is what I wanted to share but didn’t think you could yet fully grasp it all. My hope is that one day, you will return to this page and get it – fully – and let it settle deeply into your heart.

Ash Wednesday – a day of prayer and fasting. A day to remember repentance and the forgiveness we have been given. I once read:

“Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it.”  ~ C.S. Lewis

It’s the beginning of Lent, a time to remember to empty ourselves so that we can be filled with more of Jesus, and perhaps become more like Him.

“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges, he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8, NLT)

Lent – 40 days of concentrated focus. It’s a time to recalibrate so that the pull of the world does not distract us from what is most important – Jesus.

Forty days to seek Him because only as we intentionally and faithfully seek Him
will we indeed find ourselves.