March 2025 Newsletter: “New Life”
Happy March!
Here are a few facts about March that I found both interesting and important: March always starts on the same day of the week as February and November (in common years) and always ends on the same day of the week as June (even though they have a different number of days!). March is named after Mars, the Roman god of War. March has holidays such as International Women’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, World Sleep Day, and the beginning of Daylight Savings Time.
March is generally associated with the color green. This might be due to St. Patrick’s Day falling roughly in the middle of March, or it might be due to the month’s birthstone, an aquamarine (which isn’t technically green, but is close enough), or maybe because it is the official beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere. It could also be some combination of all three. Regardless, when I think of March, I think of green.
Green is associated with new life. After the winter’s chill, the spring starts to bring new leaves, new grass, new flowers, and new days. We take time in March to think about things becoming new again. We also celebrate Lent during March. Sometimes we even have Easter in March too! Lent is a time where we focus on repentance, and Easter is a time when we focus on life made new. We focus on repentance in Lent and that repentance is met with the forgiveness of our Savior. This is an incomprehensible blessing, even for those of us who have celebrated it all of our lives.
Lent will begin on March 5th with Ash Wednesday when we will receive ashes on our foreheads. Traditionally, these ashes come from the previous year’s palms of Palm Sunday. While it’s a reminder of our own sin, of our creation from dust by God, and our debt of sin, it is also a time to anticipate what is coming at the end of the season. New life is coming for each of us, both as we celebrate Easter this year and as we look forward to the resurrection of the dead when Christ comes again. Maybe it’ll be soon. Maybe it’ll even be in March.
Regardless, there are a lot of reasons that we think about new life during this month, and I pray that the Lord fills each of you with new life as we enter this Lenten season. Blessings!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come – 2 Corinthians 5:17