Bethany Living

Bethany Village Pastor Bob Ashburn reflects on the month of February.

February is longer this year because it’s a leap year, but it’s still the shortest month of 2012. Despite this short time, it is packed with so much.

Love is celebrated during this month because of Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14. Saint Valentine’s Day was originally a Christian holiday, celebrating the life of a man who opposed a Roman ban on marriages in the Third Century. Valentine became a martyr, but his name lives on because he was right. Marriage and family are so important to any society – and love certainly is the foundation of marriage and family.

Lent, the penitential season of the church year, begins with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 22. We start the season with ashes, not as a sign of how dirty we are, but rather as a sign of how we have been cleansed. Ashes were used as cleaning agents in ancient times, much like soap and detergents are used today. Lent is 40 days long, but does not include Sundays, so the period from Ash Wednesday to Easter is 46 days.

Feb. 29 only comes around every four years. We have this extra day because the revolution of the earth around the sun doesn’t fit perfectly with our 24 hour days. If we don’t have this extra day, the seasons and our calendars just won’t agree. To keep things in order, we are given the gift of an extra day. Take this day, then, to remember how much love there is in your life and the cleansing that you have received from God.