Thursday, February 26, 2009

Feeling a little Ashy


Last night was the Ash Wednesday service at church. It was the first Ash Wednesday service Spencer has ever attended. It seems like he is sick every year this time and normally misses it.
Anyway...we were given a small piece of paper to write down one of our sins. Then we could surrender the paper at the foot of the cross, receive the ash cross on our forehead--all symbolic of acknowledgement and forgiveness of sin. I'm not deeply religious--more spiritual, but I thought this would be a good learning experience for Spencer. And besides, who am I kidding? My soul could use a spiritual enema about right now, don't ya think?
I thought the "sin" part might be too deep or troubling for Spencer. But instead of writing one sin on the paper, my poor kid filled up the entire sheet and was flipping it over and starting on the back! Sin #1 was that he kicked Bowser! What??? My kid isn't cruel to animals!!! I was itching for the service to end so that I could talk to him about his list!
At the end of the service, Spencer told me that he felt much better and he liked Ash Wednesday. He said that he is going to be a better kid now that he is forgiven and gets a new start. (okay--so he "gets" it much better than most adults I know, including myself!) I asked him about kicking Bowser and he said that one day Bowser had gotten into the trash and he was trying to hold him back while he tied the bag and accidentally kicked him. Whew! It was an accident--and he KNEW it was wrong--so I feel better now.
Then, the little smart-aleck asked me which sin I wrote down. Before I could even answer him he said, "I bet it was cussing. Especially when you are driving. You probably should work on that."
Ooops.

6 comments:

lydia eve said...

Love it! :)

Patti H said...

omg this is so funny and so teary all at the same time. Kids get so much more than we give them credit for. I love that he asked you what your sin was too. Too cute!!

Yankee said...

Better not let him ride with me in any city. LOL

Leslie said...

that's a great post. a special moment for you and Spencer to be able to participate in Ash Wednesday. now where is the pic of your ashy foreheads!

Cheri Pryor said...

lol!! Pages of sins...guess he wanted to cleanse his soul and move on! lol!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, will you stop the damn cursing, Cassandra????