Lent

Christians observe Lent as a time of reflection, repentance, fasting, abstinence, and acts of mercy. Perhaps you'll see a friend this week with ashes conspicuously smeared in the middle of her forehead. Maybe your colleague has mentioned giving up chocolate or beer.
In a culture that encourages indulgence, ashes signify an outrageously counter-cultural act of humility. As a time when we acknowledge that not all is well with our souls, and lament the pain of so many people in our world, Lent appeals as the most sensible and realistic liturgical season of the year.
Ash Wednesday gets its name from the liturgical rite of dabbing ashes on the forehead of worshipers. The ashes remind us of our mortality. God spoke to Adam in Genesis 3:19, “for dust you are, and to dust you will return.” In the Bible ashes are also a symbol of mourning (2 Samuel 13:19, Jeremiah 6:26), a stark metaphor that even Jesus invokes (Matthew 11:21). Ashes also signify an inner attitude of repentance, humility, self-denial, and abstinence.
Lenten humility is not an end in itself, some act of morbid self-hatred or self-denial. Unlike the implications of the scientific outlook, Lent anticipates and culminates in the Easter celebration of resurrection life. Whatever else Christians believe, we believe that God in Christ will vanquish sin and death, and so we're the ultimate optimists who affirm life. But until then, Lent reminds us that Easter's celebration of life must pass through the narrow and bitter way of death. Jesus rose from the dead, but not before he died a real death; our hope is for the same. That's why at this time of year Christians find it entirely healthy and human to "remember death".
Daniel Clendenin