Every time I mentioned in the last few days that I am going
to be giving up laziness and sugar for lent the first thing people have asked
is are you Catholic. No, I’m not but at
my Church, First Methodist in Muskogee we have an Ash Wednesday service. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the 40 or
so days leading up to Easter. This link,
which I’m sharing from a friend at Church has a pretty good overview of Lent
and what the symbolism of giving things up means to Catholics and Christians.
I like Ash Wednesday.
I like the thought of laying some Junk down and for at least 40 days
being more aware of my actions. It’s
kind of like New Years resolutions, but with a spiritual component to it. On New Years when I make resolutions, there
is really nothing spiritual about it.
And so , within a few weeks I am back to my old habits, resolutions
forgotten. With Lent, I make a commitment
that goes beyond myself. When I go to
the altar on Ash Wednesday I make a vow to God to repent, or abstain from
something that is not a positive in my life.
I feel like its my own personal covenant with God. For example, my “altar” conversation tonight
with God went something like “God I thank you for the many blessings you have given
me. I know I fall short in so many ways,
yet you love me anyway. Today in a
symbol of sacrifice I am committing to taking better care of this body that you
have given me. I know that it need
exercise and I know that I need to be more aware of the foods that I eat and
instead of using food for comfort or joy or whatever emotion that surfaces to
cause me to eat things that are not healthy for me, I will instead rely on
prayer, and scripture and You to give me the strength to change my ways and
hopefully form better habits in the next 40 days. “
Last year I didn’t give up sugar for lent. I gave up “laziness” which for me translated
into giving up 30 minutes of mindless tv
watching and instead walking or exercising for 30 minutes a day. I found the first few days pretty
difficult. There were days where I would
go to the track and literally have to say “God make my feet move cause I’d
rather be home napping”. But I found
that after a day or so, my commitment to my commitment got a whole lot
stronger. And to break it was next to
impossible. I truly wanted to do what I
had said I would do. There was one day
about 20 days into the 40 days I had promised that I just didn’t want to
exercise. I had been to Kingfisher for
the weekend. I had held my commitment on
the Saturday, walking a trail with my niece Anna. But Sunday I was tired and just wanted to get
the 3 hour trip over with and get home
and do nothing. So I made up my mind
that I was gonna skip that day. I said
aloud “God, I cant do it today. I just
can’t. I’m too tired. I know you will
understand. Then I ran out of gas on the
turnpike, about 15 minutes from home.
It was still light outside and my former mother in laws house was about
a mile away. So I walked to her house
and she took me to get gas. I walked my
30 minutes that day. Turns out I wasn’t
too tired after all. LOL
Tonight at the Ash Wednesday service our preacher talked
about what Lent is about. His sermon was
called Repentance, Restoration, and Renewal.
Which is exactly what I have done today. I have repented of the things
(sugar and lack of exercise) that I consider road blocks to optimum health and
happiness. I have restored my mind to a
place where I feel empowered and strengthened to do what I know I need to
do. And in doing so I feel a renewal, a renewal of the can do spirit
that has eluded me in those areas for the last few months as my life got busier
and fuller with the blessings I have been showered with.
I have as Pastor Rusty put it “compromised things of great
value”. My Health is of Huge value. I have compromised that for the fleeting
pleasure of a donut, or skipping my exercise.
Lent is about a sacrifice but the kind of sacrifice that
brings amazing rewards when truly made.
Tonight when I got home, I put a load of laundry in the
dryer. For whatever reason, the lint
trap is something that even though it takes 2 seconds to clean out when a load is
done, I will wait until its completely full to empty it. I have no idea why I do that. It’s not like
it is a big deal to clean it out. As I
emptied the full lint trap I thought back to my earlier blog about
homonyms. There’s another Lint and
Lent. Both my lint trap and my lent
trap are now clean and ready to be kept that way.
For the next 46 days, instead of my way I’m gonna do it God’s way. With heart and
mind open. Out with the junk…unforgiveness, gossip, laziness, and taking things
for granted. In with a renewed heart,
mind, spirit and resolve. My awakening
prayer will be for strength to follow through with those promises I have made
to myself and to God at the altar tonight.
And in 46 days, I know I will be healthier, happier, and
humbled by the power of an awesome God in my life.
Blessings! LeeAnn
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