Ashes to dirt

From dust we came, and to dust we will return.

Ash Wednesday is today. Imposition of Ashes, beginning of Lent, reflection on the beginning of the journey to Easter. But it's also the first anniversary of the 22 February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch that killed 185 people.

Those two things are working oddly together for me today. From dust we came, and to dust we shall return. From dirt we came, and more dirt kept coming. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a city. We wear ashes. We grieve. We pray. We hope. We journey to Easter.