To Dust You Shall Return

This Wednesday, you may see someone walking around town with a smudge of ashes on their forhead. You may ask them why they appear as if they've been in a charcoal fight. And they may tell you that they'd been to church that day, where someone rubbed ashes on their heads while muttering the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

The words of this ancient ritual come from Genesis 3:19, where God proclaimes curses to humans after they turn away from Him. In Genesis, and on Ash Wednesday, the words aim to remind us that sooner or later, we will die.

Think of that. In a world that seems to endlessly move along, God wants you to remember that you will die. You.. will... die.

Of course I'm not God, so I can't say exactly why. But apparently, there must be something about this reminder that we all desparately need. As many old men have told me, time goes too fast. And knowing that my time on earth is fleeting, that my days are over in a handbreath, may be just as important as having enough food to eat and air to breath. It's part of being human. So, failing to take seriously my own mortality is an act of denial which defies my humanness and ignores the rigid boundaries of my existance.

Most importantly, failure to acknowledge death delludes me on the most tragic level, preventing me from seeing and savoring God's shocking response to that great, grim bucket that all of us shall one day kick (John 11:25).