Lent Devotions

Hello friends!  Happy Lent!  We wanted to encourage you to be devoted to walking with God through this period of preparation before Easter, so we have been working on having students write short Lenten devotions on many different experiences, topics, etc.  The plan is to post one each day so you can read it and reflect on how God is working in your life.  We are also going to make some hard paper copies which you can pick up in the chapel if you would prefer that!  We hope that you will check back each day.  Each devo is unique some have links to youtube videos, others come with song lyrics, or references to a book.  At the beginning you will find a short bio about the author, you can email them if you want to share your thoughts, or better yet, post them to the blog!  


Here is our first blog :) Enjoy!

Author: Elisabeth is super creative and passionate senior! She is doing her student teaching right now for Art Education. If you are looking for new delicious treats, just stop by and try one of her culinary creations!

Ash Wednesday is something I never really observed when I was growing up but was just always that day when some people had gray smudges on their forehead. Last year I went to a service in town at night.
I guess I hadn’t ever seen the stained glass windows back lit from outside; they are beautiful. Some of the songs I had never heard, but I sang them anyways. I liked the dimmer lights and candlelight. When it came to the part of the service for the imposition of ashes, I liked that the pastor explained them: where they came from, what they symbolized. I was one of the first pews so I heard many repetitions of out of ashes you come and into ashes you return. Somehow it was almost comforting to hear. It brought to mind how everyone will die some day and return to the dust from whence we came. I noticed that each person returned to their seat with a large, distinct cross on their foreheads, unlike the smudges I had seen on most people in classes. 

It made me think about how most of the time, our faith is invisible, but for one day a year, we very clearly show to the world our faith. I thought that was interesting, but kind of backwards; we should always be showing our faith to those around us. I don't think we should all get tattoos of crosses on our foreheads, but maybe that we should be more concentrated in living out what we believe and showing it to others.