A reflection on Psalm 103:14 for Ash Wednesday. In Eden, everything was a hallelujah. Good! Very good! God said (Gen. 1:1–31). Though brown and gray, even dust was a dappled speck of glittering life.

There's a day that comes around each year when you might see people walking around with black marks on their foreheads—it's a day known as Ash Wednesday. But what's the point of those marks? Why ...