I have ashes on my forehead today. It’s my yearly reminder that to dust I shall return. I, Kevin, will die someday.
Someday, I will take my last breath, my heart will beat its last beat, and on and on.
Somewhere between now and Dust Day, I’ll watch my last football game, hear my last song, have my last spoonful of ice cream, and go through my last getting my shoelaces caught in something.
Someday, I’ll even write my last one of these.
While not highly probable (maybe?), but possible, this could be the last time I ever write a “Pen and Paper”.
Sheesh, no pressure there. So much to say, so little space to do it in.
Our time is short
But let’s go back to ashes and death for a moment.
A big part of Ash Wednesday is reminding us that we’ll die someday.
The ensuing days of Lent remind us that life, and its leading to death, is a journey, usually quite tough.
It all culminates in Easter where we are reminded that we’ll (hopefully!) all rise again and be united in Heaven with the Almighty.
What a whirlwind!
In a little over six weeks, we’re told we’re going to die, BUT . . . there’s the light of lights at the end of the tunnel.
Is there anything more real in the universe than that?!
Other ‘deaths’
While we may go on living, there are other things in our life that die.
I’m sure I’ve talked about this before, but we go through many mini “deaths” in our lives.
We go from baby to toddler to older kid to teen to young adult to real adult and so on.
Those are natural and good things, but old parts of us die and new ones are born.
We kick old habits and develop new ones — good and bad.
Relationships come and relationships go.
A lion king once taught us about the “circle of life,” and he was right.
There’s probably at least one part of our lives that will “die” today and another part that is going to be “born”.
We probably don’t realize until years later that these things have taken place.
There’s a somewhat popular image shared online of children that says “At some point in your childhood, you and your friends went outside to play together for the last time, and none of you knew it.” Ouch and tear all at the same time. Or, “the feels,” if you were born after 1990.
It’s normal
In case you haven’t grasped it, death — all forms of it — are normal.
We die, parts of our lives die, things around us die.
But, despite all of these deaths and endings, all that remains is all that matters.
Our souls live forever and will be reunited with our bodies.
Yes, that’s Catholic teaching. Despite your earthly death, you’re not getting out of this whole thing completely, so choose wisely which eternity you’d like to end up with.
That’s normal too, eternity.
It all starts with the ashes — a reminder that everything and everyone will die on this earth, but as Easter tells us, there’s more, so much more.
How gutsy are we to embrace God’s plan for death as much as we embrace God’s signs of new life?
What about just changes in our lives? If God can give us the path to rise and get to Heaven, he can give us the tools to overcome all of those dead parts of our lives.
Jesus, I Trust in You. Jesus, I Trust in You. Jesus, I Trust in You. (Spoiler alert for after Easter.)
Last words
What if this really was the last time I’d be writing one of these?
I certainly have no plans to die or not be employed here any time soon, but both of those things are going to happen someday.
What if I knew when the future would happen in all its finality? What would I say?
Most importantly, I’d say thank you to everyone who read these and got something out of them.
I’d thank everyone who took the time to communicate with me and tell me how much you appreciated them.
I’d even thank those who told me they didn’t like them. No one’s perfect.
And, I think I’d remind everyone that, “There needs to be less talking and more listening — listening to God. Pray. Go to Mass. Read the Bible. Love God. Love one another. Get to Heaven. That’s it.”
And, let’s all pray this world gets a little bit better every day.
We, as a people, can do so much better. So, let’s love one another as He has loved us.
Let’s set this world on fire in a good way.
All that being said, I hope to “see” you all again real soon.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.