Tag: Ash Wednesday

February Timely Topics- Hearts and Love

In this post I highlight February, American Heart Month, promoting heart health awareness, and Valentine’s Day on February 14, encouraging expressions of love and hope. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent on February 18. Consider Bookshop.org for unique Valentine’s gifts. See the heartfelt mural at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

updated January 29, 2026

Celebrate Your Heart

February is American Heart Month. On this blog, you can find information and inspiration to keep your heart healthy.

7 Keys to a Healthy Heart

February is American Heart Month, highlighting heart health amidst Valentine’s Day. In this post I outline seven major types of heart diseases and risk factors such as smoking and hypertension. Recognizing heart problem symptoms is crucial. Maintaining heart health involves addressing risk factors with healthy lifestyle choices. Share this vital information.

Keep reading

Celebrate Love

Valentine’s Day is February 14.

Share words of faith, hope, and LOVE whenever you have a chance.

tree with red leaves shaped like a heart
William Shakespeare, English playwright, poet, and actor graphic from Lightstock.com, stock photo site

Lent

In 2026, Ash Wednesday is on February 18, starting the Christian season of Lent.

Exploring and Sharing the HEART of Health

I’d love for you to follow this blog. I share information and inspiration to help you transform challenges into opportunities for learning and growth.

Add your name to the subscribe box to be notified of new posts by email. Click the link to read the post and browse other content. It’s that simple. No spam.

I enjoy seeing who is new to Watercress Words. When you subscribe, I will visit your blog or website. Thanks and see you next time.

Consider Bookshop.org for a Valentine’s Day gift for that special person, or anytime you want to remember a special occasion.

Bookshop.org is an online bookstore that financially supports local, independent bookstores.

We believe bookstores are essential to a healthy culture and they are dedicated to the common good.

Bookshop.org donates a portion of every sale to independent bookstores.

Medical stethoscope and heart on a textured background
Dr. Aletha

Cover Image

I took the cover photo at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. It is part of a mural outside the museum entrance. Each square is a picture drawn by a child and sent to Oklahoma City after the 1995 terrorist bombing, which killed 168 people, including several children.

Here is another part of the mural.

colorful painted tiles displayed on wall
Children painted tiles to express condolences when the federal building in Oklahoma City was bombed in 1995. The tiles are displayed outside the memorial museum now.

Embracing Lent: A Guide to Spiritual Renewal

During Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter, Christians focus on their relationship with God. Protestants, once skeptical, now embrace Lent. Scott Hubbard advocates embracing it as a path to refocus and encounter Jesus. Lent is seen as an opportunity for spiritual growth and reflection, to gain more than we give up.

updated March 5, 2025

Lent is the season of the Christian church year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. It is preceded by Fat Tuesday, better known as Mardi Gras.

During Lent, some people commit to fasting (refraining) from certain foods or drinks or giving up certain pleasurable activities or habits during the 40 days before Easter.

Some people choose to do something, like performing a service to others, doing a meditative or spiritual activity, or some repetitive action to remind them of the season.

In this article, Scott Hubbard explains how Protestants first rejected, but now embrace Lent and offers resources on observing Lent in a new way.

Join the 40-Day Feast

Consider the days ahead as an opportunity — as one more path you might walk to focus your scattered attention, warm your heart’s affections, and meet the risen Jesus afresh.

Scott Hubbard
Hans Urs von Balthasar, (1905-1988), Swiss Roman Catholic theologian and author
to the cross that the christian is challenged to follow his master. quote Hans Urs Von Balthasar
graphic from Lightstock.com, an affiliate link

40 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Hunger. A Different Kind of Fast.

by Alicia Britt Chole

What if you fasted regret? What if your friends fasted comparison? What if your generation fasted escapism? What if your community fasted spectatorship? Trigger a spiritual revolution with this daily devotional for Lent.

Decrease life’s unnecessary details and increase your relationship with the Lord so you can live in awe of Christ’s resurrection! 

40 Days of Decrease is a guide for those hungering for a fresh Lenten/Easter experience. Dr. Alicia Britt Chole guides you through a study of Jesus’ uncommon and uncomfortable call to abandon the world’s illusions, embrace His kingdom’s realities, and journey cross-ward and beyond.

I have used this devotional from Alicia Britt Chole. Using this affiliate link to the paperback or Kindle versions helps support this blog, thanks for considering.

a women with hands clasped in prayer with a Bible
LIGHTSTOCK.COM, AFFILIATE

Exploring the HEART of Health

I’d love for you to follow this blog. I share information and inspiration to help you transform challenges into opportunities for learning and growth.

Add your name to the subscribe box to be notified of new posts by email. Click the link to read the post and browse other content. It’s that simple. No spam.

I enjoy seeing who is new to Watercress Words. When you subscribe, I will visit your blog or website. Thanks and see you next time.

Dr. Aletha
FAITH HOPE LOVE in block letters
Faith, Hope, and Love graphic from affiliate link LIGHTSTOCK.COM

Dress yourselves in burlap and sit among the ashes. Mourn and weep bitterly..

Jeremiah 6:26, NLT

Try Dwell for Lent

Many people find using their phones a convenient way to read and meditate on the Bible. And it’s easy to do so with the Dwell Bible App.

With Dwell you can listen to and read the Bible and special devotional offerings for Advent, Lent, and throughout the year.

Using this affiliate link helps support this blog and my mission to share the heart of health wherever needed all over the world. Please join me.

Beyond Fasting

If we want to make the most of this annual opportunity (Lent), we’ll do more than just give something up.

We’ll silence ourselves before the Sovereign who became a servant. We’ll fasten our eyes upon him as he teaches and heals and smiles and weeps — the only upright man in a world of cracked and curved impostors

Scott Hubbard