The Lenten Season

I have always observed Lent and have always attempted to "give up" certain luxuries as a celebration of Lent and the Easter season.  This year, I'm shaking things up a bit.  First of all, I'm sharing my plans with each of you so that I will be held accountable.  Second, I'm going to give up various objects.  There are several areas of my life/daily routine that I really want to improve.  This is the perfect opportunity to give all of these a shot.  I'm admitting up front that I may not accomplish each of these throughout Lent....but, I'm going to do my best.  Most importantly, I'm going to be more deliberate about each of these items and hopefully once Easter Sunday rolls around I will have implemented some new successful strategies into my life that I can continue throughout the year.

Here goes....

1) I am going to give up fried food - this isn't really that difficult for me as I don't think I eat too much fried food but maybe I'll be shocked when I realize it is more difficult than I think - this will mostly mean french fries.  In the past, I have given up Diet Coke but I always find that I swap Diet Coke for Sweet Tea - clearly, you can see the problem - I'm exchanging one evil for another.  At this point in my life, I need a little caffeine and quite honestly I feel Diet Coke is about my best option.  The Diet Coke will stay around, fried food....GONE!

2) 40 bags in 40 days - this was actually an idea I'm stealing from a friend.  I am going to get rid of 40 bags of stuff - one bag for each day of Lent.  This may be a bag of trash, a bag of clothes, a bag of toys - I may throw away, I may donate or I may store in a better spot (for example, semi-important papers will be collected and stored correctly, not on my kitchen counter...).   I started off tonight by gathering a small bag of clutter and throwing it away and placing a few recyclable items outside.

3) I am going to blog EVERY DAY - this is honestly my biggest room for error.  These blog entries may not be long or involved, they may just include a few thoughts or events from the day....but, my blog is one of my favorite things and I constantly think of things to blog about.  When I go weeks without blogging I am upset.  So, I'm going to attempt to change this.  I have lots to say....I'll just have to try to do it in 10 minute increments each day.  There are lots of things I've been dying to blog about so the ideas are there but the time is not.  And, its not just about blogging - if I spend a few minutes each day blogging, it will give me a time to sit down, relax and forget about many of my other stressors...briefly!

4) Perhaps the most important - I will spend a minimum of 10 minutes every night reading my Bible.  I often read my Bible or a devotional or a good book but I do not spend enough time (outside of preparing for Sunday School or my Bible Study) spending time reading on my own from my Bible.  I will start with Proverbs.  I have attempted Proverbs before - and have read most of it at various points - but I want to start at the beginning and study each night.  There are 31 chapters which should work perfectly for time to read and study for the 40 days of Lent.  Chad and I will be participating in a Lenten Study at church as well - we'll be doing this on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.

Okay....lots of new things for me to work on...all things that will help me out in the long run and hopefully, these things will help me focus on the season of Lent and Easter.  People have various opinions of Lent and not everyone will celebrate; even if you don't I invite you to follow along in my journey.  I will enjoy sharing my joys and failures with you.  To me, Lent can be a time of soul-searching and repentance as we prepare for the celebration of Christ's death and resurrection on Good Friday and Easter.  I'm looking forward to my most deliberate Lenten season yet!

I have accomplished all 4 on day 1 !!