Ashes.

Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.

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Today is Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of Lent -- a season dedicated to fasting and prayer leading up to Easter.

There are many Christian traditions and practices that accompany this time -- some being shared throughout the branches and denominations, some specific to their respective doers. The most common is fasting -- whether that be abstaining from food (on a certain day, or for the whole period of Lent), or giving up some other thing (a luxury or vice).

Whatever one may choose to practice, the focus should remain on the inner being. Acts of fasting and prayer should not be done purely for aesthetics or ritual, but to bring to one's understanding a dependency we all have of God for His provision. As Jesus was tested for forty-days in the wilderness, so we conform ourselves to that trial and suffering to look, be, and live like Him in this world.

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Just as Advent can be a somber time (a yearning and waiting for the coming of the Messiah) -- so too the season of Lent, which moves us towards the Cross, and thus sin, suffering, judgment, wrath, forsakenness, and finally death.

Yet, as we humble ourselves and move into this time of darkness, a light shines through. We walk the Calvary road so that we might witness the Sunday Resurrection.