February 17 - From Dust to Dust

Broken pots and ashes: symbols of our mortality.

By Magdalena I. García

For Christians, today is Ash Wednesday, a day to contemplate our mortality. A day when we are accustomed to hearing, “From dust you came and to dust you shall return,” which are words often used as part of the burial liturgy. Of course, the whole point of the day is not simply to make us all depressed. We don’t need Ash Wednesday for that, since we all take at least one look in the mirror every morning, and see the inevitable signs of decay! The point of the day is to make us think about how we live our lives from dust to dust.

For me, among other things, this is a day to think about what I want to do with the next couple of decades, since that’s probably how long I will have to be in full-time employment in order to get my son through college and collect full retirement. Why didn’t someone advice me to pursue education or a government career, so that I could retire after 20 years of service? Maybe they did and I wasn’t listening, since most of us ask for advice when in reality we are seeking confirmation for what we have already decided to do. Or why don’t they grant extra credit to ministers who work in challenging contexts, like congregations in need of redevelopment? Now, there is a motion for the Presbyterian Board of Pensions. Does anyone volunteer to move it?

It’s a sobering thought to consider that more than half of my life is already gone, and that a good chunk of it was burned away without much intentionality, like the ashes that fall off at the end of a Cuban cigar. Therefore, the task of the day is to commit to carefully puffing away each moment, savoring the aroma, inhaling and exhaling the existential smoke until we are filled with the satisfaction of a life well lived.