Ash Wednesday 2014...

Morning all! I hope that you are having a blessed Ash Wednesday. And I *am* having a very nice day, after a lovely evening yesterday. A huge relief after my challenges of the other night.

I am going for ashes at the 4 pm scripture service my parish is holding, this is when I go every year. It's become quite an enjoyable tradition. I used to always take Henry with me, but now that he is in Catholic school, they have Mass with ash distribution during the day, so I just take Anne. This year I think she's going to really get a kick out of the process, since she really enjoys being blessed by the priest in the communion line each week. This past Sunday she even thanked him. :0

I bemoaned recently that next year, my birthday falls on Ash Wednesday, and it's a milestone birthday. Since it's a milestone most women people ;-) decidedly do NOT enjoy, I found this bit of trivia fairly unpleasant. I mean, I've been dreading it for like the past 10 years. :0 However, the other day I was sitting waiting for a meeting to start with a colleague, and something brightening happened. She wished me a happy birthday, and I mentioned this little birthday/Ash Wednesday evil tidbit. I know that this colleague is not Catholic. And do you know what she said?

"Oh, but that will be so nice. You will get a blessing on your birthday."

I mean !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How lovely!!! I realized how silly I was being about the whole thing, that I should look at it in a much more positive light. An ancient, beautiful, and meaningful tradition will fall on my birthday. I so appreciate her interpretation of this, which, let's face it, is the most positive interpretation POSSIBLE, ha! But I love it. She also commented that she has passed this age milestone, and that to her, it's a *good* thing.

"You appreciate and enjoy things so much more, without the insecurity we all have when we're younger."

Amen, sister.

I broke out my Magnificat this morning and read Morning Prayer. It is my resolution to keep this up twice daily for all of Lent, and I'm hoping that it sticks even beyond that. Mike is at home with Anne today, and he's planning a meatless dinner for us all, bless him.

It is a *very* cold Ash Wednesday here, especially given that it falls so late this year. A ton of snow still on the ground. But to me, I prefer that the weather still be somewhat wintry when Lent begins. It reminds me that the freshness of spring is still to come, at Easter. That's what we are preparing for now, and we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves.

Tell me about your Ash Wednesday plans! Leave me a comment. :)