From dust to spring blooms

The seasons of the church year shape our rhythms, marking moments of reflection and growth. We know what to expect when Advent approaches and again when Lent rolls around. These seasons come with practices, themes, and invitations we anticipate each year.

I was reminded of this while thinking back on an Ash Wednesday service during my time in seminary. As we gathered for worship, we expected to hear the familiar words: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. What we did not expect was the way one of our professors reframed that message.

He caught us off guard by saying, “You are a beloved clump of dirt.”

This proclamation came with two clarifications. First, we were lovingly created from the earth, formed with care and intention by God. Second, dirt is not lifeless. Dirt fosters growth. Given time, care, and the right conditions, it can nurture something beautiful.

Ash Wednesday begins Lent by reminding us of our origins. From there, Lent becomes a season of tending the soil. For 40 days, we experiment with rhythms meant to change our pace and help us pay closer attention to God and one another. But Lent was never meant to be the end of the story.

In the natural world, growth rarely happens overnight. Seeds take time to root. Shoots slowly push through the soil. And habits, like plants, need time before they become part of the landscape.

You may have heard the claim it takes 21 days to form a habit — an idea circulated because three weeks feels manageable. But research suggests something different. A 2009 study found that forming a new habit takes an average of 66 days, with more complex habits taking longer to settle into daily life.

That timeline made me think differently about the rhythms we already follow.

Lent lasts 40 days. Easter lasts 50.

Together, they create nearly the exact window researchers say it takes for new habits to take root.

In the church calendar, Easter is not a single day but a season: 50 days stretching from Easter Sunday to Pentecost. Often called Eastertide, it follows the journey of the disciples after the resurrection: from the empty tomb, through encounters with the risen Christ, to the giving of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church at Pentecost.

If Lent prepares the soil, Easter is the season when new life begins to grow.

I’ve been thinking about this as I begin my time at St. Paul. A new apartment, new job, and new church community mean new routines across the board. After two months, some rhythms have begun to settle in, while others I’ve had to restart from square one.

Our Lenten theme of Changing Pace has provided the perfect backdrop for reflecting on what I hope those routines will become. It has also made me wonder what happens if we approach the season of Easter with the same intentionality we bring to Lent.

What if the practices we experimented with during these 40 days don’t end Easter morning, but continue to grow through the 50 days that follow?

Sabbath might become a steady rhythm rather than a temporary discipline. Simplicity might shift from an experiment to a lifestyle. Silence, slowing down, or solidarity might begin to shape our days in lasting ways.

Maybe this is part of what resurrection life looks like: not a single dramatic moment, but a season of steady growth. And perhaps this is what the season of Easter is for.

After all, beloved clumps of dirt were made to bloom.