Ash Wednesday

 It’s about 4 degrees with about 10 inches of snow visible through the dining room window.  Driveway is clear and later on I will be off to pray, distribute ashes and the Eucharist and then prep a few classes. 

For sometime, I’ve discerned coming back to this.  Amidst the winter surge, I think I hear a “do it.”  

This is a place for quiet reflection.  It was started with Elijah in mind, and the broom tree where he took his “retreat” and was prepared for the next step in the journey.  It was started as a part of my own grief work after the loss of my children in a car crash, followed by the death of my brother in the WTC on 9/11.  After all that, I needed a broom tree.  Everybody needs a broom tree.

On this Ash Wednesday, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus instructs us how to live our lives in His love. When it comes to prayer, he urges to go to our “inner room” and pray to the Father “in secret” and the Father will hear us “in secret.”  

In short, go to your broom tree.  Stop.  Breathe.  Rest.  Pray.  Listen.  Be still. Know the Lord. 

This blog is not meant to be your broom tree.  It is meant to maybe help you along in coming to know the Father while in that “inner room” or under the broom tree.    Elijah would leave the broom tree to go to Mt. Horeb, where he would have his encounter with the Lord.   Where are you headed.  

Ash Wednesday is a good broom tree day.  Take some time to go to the secret room today.