Friday, February 12, 2016

February is special

February is a brief month but contains several special days.  Sunday is Scout Sunday and also happens to be Valentine's Day. For Christians Wednesday was Ash  Wednesday, beginning Easter services. For a few still living, it is the anniversary of the invasion of Iwo Jima. 

I would like to quote a couple of paragraphs from a devotional given by our daughter in Israel:



Ash Wednesday marks the start of the Lenten season, a time of reflection and repentance. A time to stop and look at all the dust that has collected, a time to see how dirty our own hearts and souls are after a hot summer of no rain. We pause to look inside our gutters that are clogged with long held onto grudges – we bend down to see how the sidewalk is coated with our acts of selfishness and pride. Lent is the time where we sit in the midst of our flaws and our weaknesses and our mistakes, and recognize that we, alone, are powerless to change things.

Rather, we look forward to the hope that Easter brings: the hope of a first rain that will come as a downpour and wash all of our sins and dirt away; the hope that reminds us that we can never be so covered in dust that the love of God can’t make us clean again.

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