Ash Wednseday...

This Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. I flew into Portland that day and I went with some friends to, The Pearl-- a church in downtown Portland.

Ive never celebrated Lent or Ash Wednesday before. The service was very somber, liturgical, and by candlelight. We listened to and reflected upon Scripture that reminded us of our frailty and our need for Christ. Then the pastor put a cross of ash on our foreheads telling us each individually,

"Remember, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Therefore count yourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ."

I came into the service extremely exhausted from traveling and in all honesty I was not in the greatest of moods. I didnt know how to respond to listening to this constant reminder of dust.

I wanted to be encouraged.
Joyful.
To think about the greatness of following Christ.

And yet as I sat in silence pondering what it meant that I was dust, I was in fact reminded of the glory that lies in this specific truth..

It is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me! I can cease striving because... I am dust! I can stop seeking to plan my own future because...to dust I shall return! I am dead to sin and alive to Christ. I have in fact become Christ's righteousness.

I am Christ's righteousness.
I am the righteousness of Christ.

The longer I thought upon these things, the deeper these truths resonated and brought freedom to my soul. And then before I knew it...

I was walking away encouraged.
Joyful.
Thinking about the greatness of following Christ.