Lent

I was reminded today, by a friend, that tomorrow begins the 40 day season before Easter that we call, "Lent." I don't always observe this tradition, but this year I'm feeling led to pay a bit more attention to my personal preparation for Easter.

Easter is, after all, an amazing celebration. Yet so often it gets lost amid Spring activities, new clothes, easter egg hunts and the ensuing money counting and candy gathering. It's not that I don't like our traditions, I actually love them. However, over the last few years I have felt more and more that I have been missing an opportunity to deepen my spiritual walk through a more serious focus on this significant Christian remembrance.

So this year I'm going to go through the Lent devotional book that Salem Alliance was handing out at church last weekend. And I think I'm going to give something up. If you're not familiar with the tradition, often Christians will give up something - chocolate, coffee, TV, video games, etc - for the 40 days before Easter. I think of it as a tangible way to focus more on God. I'm not sure why other people do it, but I do it as a discipline that gets my mind off my habits and onto who God is. I often couple this kind of a fast with a prayer. For example, several times when I have fasted, (taken a break) from dessert, I have said this prayer, "Lord, please give us the sweetness of your Spirit." Every time I have a craving for something sweet, I turn it into a prayer.

One friend said that anything we depend on more than God is an idol. So today, as I've been mulling over the idea of what God might be calling me to "give up", I also need to be conscious of the question "What do I depend on?"

So, with no further ado, I'm signing off the internet, again, until after Easter. Why? Because I depend on the internet for company, entertainment, education, friendship, news, processing my thoughts and so much more. Some of my dependence is healthy - like a blog as a good place to process my thoughts - but some is not so healthy - like the 5 times a day I check in on other blogs.

I apologize to those of you who have just found this blog, or who have weathered my other "sabbaticals" - I'll be back. :)

May God bless you with a spiritually significant season of Lent.