Simplicity in the Burbs ($2 a day): Dust and Ashes [Day 1]

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Those are the words that were spoken over me by the priest, at the beautiful Anglican church my small group visited, as he administered the ash on my forehead last night.

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

photo © 2006 Sarah (Rosenau) Korf | more info (via: Wylio)

As I sat in a new setting, a setting that really was anything but new, those words were a reminder of my natural mortality.  We are mere mortals who are deserving of death.  We fail to live up to the glorious standard of a holy God, and yet, by the mercies of Christ, death will be swallowed up by life.  It is the dichotomy of death and life, alienation from and union with the Divine, mortality and immortality, that marks out Ash Wednesday as unique.  We remember our broken image-bearing identity and yet because of the resurrection we find that we are on a path towards becoming fully human.  We are indeed made of dust and will return to such one day… but the end of the story is resurrection.

So why reflect on human mortality?  Because in doing so, in bearing the marks of the Ash on our foreheads, we are reminded our deep need for a Savior.  We recognize that we in our own strength will live in self-indulgence, ignoring the suffering of our local and global neighbors.  Yet in the power of Christ we can become empowered to forsake our desires as we crucify them with Christ so that he may live in us.  This reality began for me in a real way as I have chosen to live off of $2 a day for Lent.  As a suburbanite this is no easy task, but yesterday was not unbearable.

I ate simply and spent no additional money on myself.  Urges for frozen yogurt and cookies with milk were met with the reminder: “O, yeah… its lent and I can’t have any of the good stuff.”  So, in a very real way, yesterday was about trying to break self-indulgent patterns.

Here’s a summary of how I spent my money yesterday:

What was interesting as I began to adjust to this new reality, there was a moment when I began to lick my serving utensils clean.  It was as though I realized that my portions are limited.  This led me to think of people throughout the world who live in worse poverty than I have chosen and who lick their plates and utensils clean out of a survival instinct.  The reality of my neighbor’s sufferings came closer to home in that moment than I can recall recently.

Thinking about my neighbors reminds me of the call to help provide clean water for Africa.  YOU can help!  Consider giving just $2 to our fund-raising campaign for Blood: Water Mission.  They are an organization seeking to do good in Africa by fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic and by providing clean water.  And why water?  Remember the following $2 stat:

“Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.”

For $2, you can subvert this statistic and provide clean water for our neighbors in Africa.  As you do so, your generosity is anticipating the coming of Resurrection Sunday… the most generous moment in human history!  Ashes help us recognize our dependence on God, and Easter will remind us of the hope of New Creation.

Tell me about your Lent commitments, struggles, and ideas about the coming together of simplicity and generosity.