#48 Ash Wednesday.

(photo by Novelty of Volta via Flickr)

Tonight we had the Ash Wednesday service at our church, and every year I get this little feeling of anticipation in the days leading up to it… It’s such a great time of year, when Easter is coming, and you’re looking forward to sunnier days and warmer weather and long walks. There’s something very comforting about the Lenten service, waiting in silence to have the cross of ashes placed on your forehead, praying for and receiving forgiveness for your past mistakes. I’ve decided that this year for Lent, I won’t be giving up anything, but instead I’ll try to do something every day. Maybe I’ll try to pray more often, or help more people, or be more loving (I’m terrible at making choices). Tonight after we’d been “ashed” (what is the verb for this, anyone?) Ben and I took our turn at the altar, held hands and prayed for a little while. If you’ve never prayed on your knees at the altar, you have to do it. I swear it changes everything, at least for today.

On a side note, there are 22 people registered to take my art classes this spring and I am seriously excited about that. For all you art majors reading out there (this is assuming someone besides Ben, mama and Annalee are reading this blog), I’ll be really focusing on the theories in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The first class is March 1, so I will be blogging about that in the future. Hopefully, I’ll have some interesting drawings to show for it.