Yesterday my wife paid a physical therapy visit to a local nursing home. An elderly man with a cane wobbled his way down the hall.
One of the employees saw him and was alarmed. “Oh Honey, did you fall?” she asked.
My wife looked and saw the woman examining his darkened forehead. Apparently, his explanations to the caretaker were not being understood.
“It’s Ash Wednesday,” my wife interjected. “He has ashes on his forehead.”
The confused look on the woman’s face led my wife to give a little more explanation and to assure her that the resident was not injured.
While the caretaker was unfamiliar with the ancient Christian tradition of beginning the Lenten season with ashes, she did ask the right question for the day.
“Have you fallen?”
The answer for each of us is a resounding, “Yes, I have.” That confession is what puts us on the trail toward the Cross.
Helpful daily devotions for the journey are provided by the Passport folks at d365.
Director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee and former executive editor and publisher at Good Faith Media.
