Ash Wednesday

For the wonders God has done for people,
Let them thank God for God’s steadfast love. — Psalms 107:15

As we begin the Lenten season our intentions are steadfast as well. We pray, we fast, we meditate, and worship. Yet it is just a matter of time before we begin to hear the siren’s song tempting us to return to our worldly needs and desires. We begin to doubt if our prayers are really heard. We question if fasting is just a short term gimmick. We ask if meditation really accomplishes inner peace. Finally time for worship conflicts with time for ourselves. Our resolve melts like the mountain of snow outside my door, first slowly in the sun, and then much more rapidly as the rains of every day demands pour down.

Now many accomplish their resolve of Lent. They do so by consciously or subconsciously understanding the unique and fascinating paradox of our relationship to God — “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.” We thank God not by shouting praise but by praying, we celebrate our plenty not by feasting but by fasting, and we worship and meditate just at the time spring pulls us to get out and play.

As you begin your unique Lenten discipline realize by fasting, praying, meditating, and worshiping you are not sacrificing but “thanking God for God’s steadfast love.”

About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.

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