It’s a dull, dreary, drizzly, DISMAL day. It’s Ash Wednesday and I pulled into the parking lot of the church where the service is taking place in order to get set up so that I wasn’t rushed this evening, only to discover that I left the key to that church at home! I am usually only there on Sundays as my office is in the larger church. Not only that, but I realized on my drive that I had forgotten to burn last year’s palm branches yesterday. I found a coffee can in the kitchen, which of course was full, so if anyone is wondering why the coffee is in a different container, now you know why!

Thankfully the church has a bit of an overhang to shelter folks from the rain, so I stuck the palms into the can, lit one of the THREE matches I could find and threw it in. So dry that it only took a glowing ember from the match to ignite, the palms flashed bright, but quickly turned to ash.

I am reminded, on this dull, dreary, drizzly, DISMAL day, that these ashes blazed brightly for a short time, just like Jesus did. The unburned palms represent the unfinished work that Jesus left us to do. And that glowing ember, reminds me, that on the most DISMAL of days, that the light of Jesus continues to shine.

#circlinglent