Day 53 - Ash Wednesday

Today is the 4th day of the 8th week, the 22nd day of the 2nd month, the 53rd day of 2023, with only 304 shopping days until Christmas, and:

• Be Humble Day
• Digital Learning Day
• European Day for Victims of Crime
• For the Love of Mike Day - not quite sure why it is today, but the saying apparently originated back in the 1880s as an euphemism for the more blasphemous exclamation "for the love of God".  About 25 years later, it was pretty much replaced by "for the love of Pete" that served the same purpose 
• George Washington's Birthday
• Inconvenience Yourself Day
• National Cook a Sweet Potato Day
• National Margarita Day
• National Wildlife Day - this one is in honor of Steve Irwin's birthday
• Pink Shirt Day - awareness of the needs of kids dealing with bullying 
• Play More Cards Day
• Recreational Sports and Fitness Day
• Scouts Founder's Day
• Supermarket Employee Day
• Tex Avery Day - animation director 
• Walking the Dog Day
• Woolworth's Day - back in the day, this was the place to go and it was one of the first "five and dime" stores.  You could get all kinds of things, and maybe enjoy a quick burger at the lunch counter. The first one opened on this day in 1879 and the stores spread quickly.  They were everywhere when I was growing up, but in 1977, the last variety store in the US closed.  That wasn't the end of the company though, it switched gears and changed to concentrating on sports equipment, becoming known as Foot Locker.
• World Thinking Day

Quote of the day:

"Each year, around the latter part of winter, Lent arrives. It nearly always surprises me. Here it is, once again, summoning me to change how I typically live." 

~ W. David O. Taylor, assistant professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary

Shrovetide and Ash Wednesday always seem to sneak up on me.  As I realize Daylight Savings Time is just 18 days and Easter is only 40 days away, at the same time as I look back to the holidays and note how far away they feel, I start to feel as though this is an early symptom of time slipping through my fingers without my noticing it.  Am I really living those days that have slid by so seamlessly?  

The forty days of Lent was always distinct when growing up Roman Catholic.  Ash Wednesday is not one of the six holy days of obligation, but our family always made a point to go to mass, to contemplate our mortality, and to abstain.  The blessed palms from last year's Palm Sunday have been burnt, and each person is marked on the forehead with ashes as the priest intones "Remember, thou are dust, and to dust, thou shall return."  In preparation for Easter Sunday, we are supposed to do three things:  contemplate and pray [go to mass during the week, say the rosary, meditate, for example], give something up [stop using profanity or don't eat chocolate, for example] , and do something positive [could be something altruistic like volunteering or something personal like exercising].  The idea is to do something different that will prepare you for the beginning of the new liturgical year and make you a better person.  Lent is a very austere time, and that is why Shrovetide is celebrated in such a carnival atmosphere -- you burn off energy, and use up supplies of indulgent food stuffs ahead of Lent.  

I'm not sure how comfortable I am this Lent with thoughts of my mortality as these days I have been feeling extremely fragile, like a boat trying to navigate in choppy seas that is listing to one side.  While I have always believed tomorrow is promised to no one, I more than a little conscious of the fact that there are fewer days ahead of me than behind me.  I envy those who's faith gives them a certainty in what lies beyond that door we all must pass through some day