It's Ash Wednesday, 2012, and I'm back!
It's been a year, and a lot has changed, but Lent is supposed to be a season of change. I look around myself and see my children changing. Driver's ed? Are you kidding? First Communion for Sylvia? Isaac's Confirmation? I have 2 sons in the Army now! Yikes! I'm so thankful to be a part of it all. My life is a crazy, mixed up busy place to be, and I'm enjoying every minute. (Except the minutes cleaning up dog poo. We're working on it!)
One of the things that really struck me today was my sweet son Isaac. At 15, some guys are way too cool to be seen with their mother. He hugs the guts out of me publicly, and invites his friends to do the same. It doesn't matter whether he's sweaty from Cross Country, wrestling, or just because he's a teenage boy, he has no reason to feel embarrassed to love his good old Mom. He went to Mass this morning with Debbie (my dear friend) and his sisters. He received a large smattering of very dark ashes on his forehead. They were still very dark when I picked him up at 2:30 for an appointment. When I asked him if any of his friends noticed, he said 17 people had asked him about it, and that he told them it was a sign of repentance, and that it was a church thing.
The cool thing is that he could have washed them off, but he didn't. He could have given a wise-crack answer, but he didn't (that I know of.) He also fasted the whole day! Not the wimpy fasting that I practice, where your total food intake for the day equals less than 2 total meals. He full-on fasted. No Food! Did I mention he's 15 and has a hollow leg where he normally stores the FOOD? Not one bite. He was all in.
In the first reading in Mass today, it talked about loving God with your whole heart. This made me tear up a little, because I still don't feel like my heart is quite "whole" yet. But after praying about the whole thing, I realized that I am being asked to love like Isaac! Publicly. Fully. With my WHOLE heart! Holding nothing back! He's a great example of what love should look like. Hug that red-haired girl because you know she's beautiful! Answer your friends when they ask you about the signs of your faith! Love each other like you mean it!
Isaac, I'm so thankful for you today. You are such a beautiful soul!
Happy Lent!
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