Like many households these days, nighttime is a constant adventure.
Before half-tired kids are finally tucked in tight, there are teeth to brush, books to read, and stuffed animals to find.
And last night was no different for our household.
Together we worked to settle into our nightly routine when it came time to gather pajamas. And without missing a beat, our toddler exuberantly reached into the dresser drawer to grab from the basket a mismatched set.
One piece, the skeleton pajamas he got as his Halloween costume for 2020, and the other piece, from the pajamas gifted by an aunt and uncle for Valentine’s day, that have the words “Loved” written all over them.
Since we welcomed these different sets of pajamas into our home, they have served as great teaching tools.
The skeleton set has been used as we try to teach our oldest about his own skeletal structure, the bones within his body. And the "Loved" pajamas have brought comfort and joy as he continues to navigate what it means to be and share love with the world.
And yet this evening as I looked upon this mismatched set, I could not think of a more poignant visual as we lean into the beginning of Lent, and in particular this Ash Wednesday day.
For today we gather to honestly name that we are dust and to dust we shall return.
We are mortals who will someday die.
We are sinners who have failed to live into God's dream of love for the world.
We are bones. We are dust.
AND this is not the fullness of who we are.
For while we are bones and dust, we are also deeply deeply loved by God.
While we are sinners and we fall short of living out God's dream for the world, we are also Beloved.
Deeply.
Fully.
Abundantly loved by God.
And called again to join God in loving this world as God does.
So today, as we reflect on life, on our own brokenness, our sin and our mortality, and the brokenness of the world around us, may we do so knowing that God meets us right here.
In our brokenness God meets us and names us Beloved.
In our sin, God claims us, and calls us Forgiven.
In our failure, God joins alongside us and invites us to live anew, each and everyday, into the fullness of who we are...
Bones and Dust.
Loved. Loved. Loved!