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Start with the words none of us want to hear: you are going to die. Now feel what happens next—attention sharpens, breath slows, the moment grows weighty and bright. That’s the doorway Ash Wednesday opens, and we walk through it together to find a paradoxical gift: when we face our limits, we gain our life back.

We explore the deep meaning of ashes—the cross traced with dust and oil, the voice that names our beginning and our end—and why this ancient ritual still speaks with power. Ryan shares his first Ash Wednesday experience and how a quiet line from Thich Nhat Hanh’s How to Sit reframed prayer as simple presence: sit, stop, breathe. From there we unpack Lent as a season of stopping and looking deeply, a countercultural practice that interrupts hurry and brings us home to God, ourselves, and our neighbors.

Two messages anchor the conversation. First, remember you are dust: mortality humbles our egos and clarifies purpose, inviting us to love widely, build beauty, and live fully while we can. Second, return: repentance is not shame but a turn toward wholeness, an honest naming of how we’ve wandered and a step back onto the path of shalom. Along the way, we offer practical ways to practice presence—daily stillness, examen, fasting from distraction, small acts of repair—so the season becomes a lived rhythm, not a vague intention.

If this reflection stirs you, share it with someone who needs a gentler pace and a truer hope. Subscribe for more reflections, leave a review to help others find the show, and tell us: which message meets you today—dust or return?

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