Good Morning Friends,
In Scripture, ashes symbolize mourning, mortality, and repentance. But in agrarian life, ashes also fertilize the soil—what looks dead becomes the ground for new growth. Job wore sackcloth and ashes to show repentance, and the prophet Joel calls us to “rend our hearts, not our garments,” inviting an inner change that leads to life. Growing up in Phoenix, I learned early to appreciate what can rise from ashes. Lent carries that same invitation. As we begin this season, we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit—the One who brings salvation, security, growth, and service. The ashes from last year’s palms mark us not only with mortality but with the promise of resurrection and the gift of Pentecost. Lent reminds us that we do not have all the answers. Yet in our uncertainty, we seek God, trusting the Spirit to help us piece together the puzzle of our lives. So today we ask: Will our repentant hearts find beauty in the burnt palms of Ash Wednesday?
Message: Ash Wednesday begins a season of self-examination and humility. Lent isn’t named in Scripture, and even the Reformers were skeptical of it, but God still uses this time to level our pride and deepen our faith. This day is tender for me. My mother died on an Ash Wednesday, and as I write, I remember her last hours. The smudge of ashes on so many foreheads reminds me how fragile life is—ashes to ashes, dust to dust. I also remember my younger brother, and how Lent stirs our longing to return home to God. Lent invites us to face our temptations and our mortality, not to despair but to let the Spirit breathe life into our dust. Jesus’ teaching today focuses on the deeper work of the heart. He calls us to confront the great barrier to spiritual growth—pride—and to seek the One who fills the empty places within us.
And So this Ash Wednesday is a good day to be marked with the sign of faith and sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit. A good day to remember we will die—and a good day to remember our souls live in Christ. Lent proclaims a living hope born out of ashes. It is a journey to the cross that asks us to grow in maturity, humility, and love. As our gardens put down deeper roots, may our faith do the same. Perhaps we all need a little spiritual fertilizer.
Pray for deep roots, not shallow faith. Pray to be freed from pride. Pray to lift the needy from the ash heap. Pray for the Spirit’s comfort, power, and guidance. Pray to never be indifferent to suffering. Pray that the Holy Spirit becomes real to us. Pray for freedom, counsel, security, and new life. Pray that beauty rises from the ashes of our past and gives flight to our life in Christ together.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 