I was brainstorming a way to teach our kids about Ash Wednesday. So we engaged in a fun activity. I emptied our front room table of its clutter and asked the kids to go find as many of their stuffed animals from inside our house that they could and to bring them to the table.
Ezra kept walking around with Brutus Buckeye (which plays the OSU fight song). I didn’t stop him.
After they finished collecting the animals, I explained Ash Wednesday in a way that they could understand. I showed Avery pictures of people receiving the imposition of ashes on their heads.
“If you saw them in the store after the church service, what would you know about them, Avery?” I asked.
“I would know that they were a Christian,” she replied.
“If you saw them tomorrow in the store after the ashes were washed off, could you tell that they were Christian,” I asked.
“Not unless I asked them, I guess,” she said.
“So, Ash Wednesday is a day when you can see who is a Christian by the ashes on their head. Much like your stuffed animals that were spread all over the house, Christians who are scattered on other days gather on Ash Wednesday to sing to God and to get ashes on their heads and to think about Jesus. Today is a day when we can be thankful for how many Christian friends that we have around us. These are people who want to know Jesus and to be like him,” I concluded.
So, since I haven’t cleaned out our fireplace in a month, we had some ashes to use. Avery wanted to receive ashes and give them to me.
And we’ve been having a fun discussion about what it means to be a Christian for the rest of our afternoon.
Anyway, I wanted to share a cool dad story. God is good.
Joe Skillen 