Ash Wednesday - "You're Invited"

"Yet even now, " says the Lord, "return to me with your whole heart..."  Joel 2:12   so this is the verse that leads us in...only if you keep reading in the book of Joel you'll find one of my favorite verses "return to the Lord, your God.  For gracious and merciful is He, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.  (verse 13)

The Lenten season is just a wonderful reminder that we are invited into God's kingdom, no matter how long we've been gone, no matter how far away we've been or what we've done while we were gone.  The idea of that is so grand sometimes our minds just can't comprehend it.  I keep laughing b/c as I read the verses that were chosen today, I found "Create in Me" lyrics/verses.  And then opened 2 Corinthians 5:20 - 6:2, I just heard a song on the radio today from this exact verse " He became sin, who knew no sin, so we might become His righteousness."    God hears us and "on the day of our salvation, helps us."  

Why is it that we can't place 100% of our trust in Him?  Why does it take the season rolling around each year for us to be devoted and more prayerful, to come back to Him.  He calls us everyday.

At Mass tonight we read from Matthew and afterwards Father Phil made a joke about how we should not perform good deeds so that others might see them, but then we put a big mark on our foreheads so that people know we've been to Mass.  HA  And here I am putting my devotions out there for everyone to read...it's helpful, to be reminded.  We aren't perfect so why not just work at being the best we can at doing His will.  At the end of the day the guarantee is the same, we can come back and start a new with our God b/c His arms are wide open.  If at first we don't succeed, try try again.

AMEN.   Day 1: no soft drinks, no facebook, no cursing and no shopping....3 out of 4 ain't bad.  I bought a new watch today b/c I dropped mine yesterday and it broke. I'm not just giving up, I've also decided to "get down" to the basics of devotion and learning and using the "free" time to spend with those people and doing the things that are most important.

This is the best time of the year!