I've heard of Lent, I'm not talking Lint or belly button fuzz her kids, and I've participated here and there but never really thought about it. So this year when asked what I was going to "give up" for Lent I decided to really put some thought into it.
First I wanted to understand the history of Lent, history is cool kids, so I headed out to wikipedia for the story. This gave me a pretty good overview and a lot of details here and there. I also asked around, remembered what others have given up in the past, and what I've heard about Lent over the years.
To me, Lent is a time to give something up which pulls you away from God or from your walk with God. It's a time to "reboot" or recenter yourself and a time of introspection. Like it says on wikipedia, it's a time to cleanse the soul and get right with God.
Now in theory we should do this more then once a year. And this thought really stuck with me. So rather than give up something like my twitter account, facebook, blogging, chocolate, or even coffee, I decided to give up something bigger then me. I wanted to give up something which would REALLY challenge me and FORCE me to have those opportunities with God which we should have, everyday.
So for Lent I'm giving up procrastination, idle time, wasted time, distractions etc. I want to better use my time and use those minutes, hours or even brief seconds in pursuit of His Will for me. God's been talking a lot to me, and I've got a lot of stuff going on in my head, in my heart and deep in my soul.
These next 40 days are a chance to REALLY connect with Him. My hope though is that I won't stop after the 40 Days. So when others take Easter Sunday as the opportunity to eat chocolate again, check the facebook, send out a twitter, or even resume blog activities, I'll just continue marching on towards Him.
Because God deserves more then just 40 days from me, he deserves everyday and I should strive to give it to Him.
Feb 25, 2009 at 6:02 AM I am giving up RSS feeds because that is one of my biggest times sucks. And I am going to try and read at least a few verses of scripture every time I feel the desire to look.
Also considering doing the Blood Water Mission Water fast. (Only drink water for Lent and give the equivalent money to develop water projects in developing nations).
Mar 2, 2009 at 10:52 AM This is awesome. I gave up Facebook, but only because it was an enabler of shallow interactions between myself and my friends. A few years ago I gave up spiritual arrogance by focusing on humility. If you are just giving something up, then you are creating a law and trying to please God by actions. If you are instead putting something in (in response to giving something up, perhaps) you are engaging in an act of love with the Lord, because you are striving to be deeper connected to Him.
Anyway. I do still have those Dave Barnes videos on YouTube.
#1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_RK5kSWLZs
#2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwrXueJTf9M
#3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoiDeUOGi3g
#4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i9tyoKXyFI
#5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ExVCbzceE
God bless :)
Mar 15, 2009 at 2:40 PM Adam i was thinking of giving up twitter and blogs but i get so much from those i follow that i would probably lose more then i would gain :-)
Mar 15, 2009 at 2:41 PM Stephanie! Thanks for the links, i'm so jealous you got to sit down and chat with Dave Barnes. He's such a great guy and i'm glad you got these moments captured.