Ashes and rainbows make a strange combination. Ashes are dirty, messy, and ugly. Rainbows, on the other hand, are beautiful and  inspiring. But we encounter them both at the beginning of Lent this year.

On Wednesday, ashes were smudged on our foreheads as a  sign of our mortality and sinfulness. Today we hear that God set a rainbow in the sky as a sign of the covenant with us. As we begin this season of Lent, let us recognize both truths: we are always in need of repentance, but God stands ever waiting to forgive us. 

As ashes remind us to repent of our sins, may rainbows remind us of God’s eternal forgiveness.