Shutting off, tuning out

I have successfully managed to utterly fail at pretty much every Lenten observance I had decided upon. I felt so uninspired going into Lent, it is no wonder I am not fairing well with my goals. I am wondering now what God would have me do

Honestly, I am on Spiritual Auto Pilot once again, I fear. Going through the motions of my Bible Study and barely giving God a second thought beyond that.

Which brings me to my newest attempt at getting it right - I am going hard core with my fast from the computer & TV. NO more blogging, checking email, shopping online, etc until after Lent is over. I will get online to do my work - nothing more. Maybe, just maybe I will get bored enough to read the Bible or something crazy like that. We'll see.

Talk to you on Easter or thereabouts.

Erin

Uninspired Ramblings

I am marveling at how un-Lentish life feels to me so far this season... we have all been struggling with sickness - Vivi especially, and that has caused every single day to feel like a Sabbath day - which, maybe means it has actually been a lot more like Lent than I have realized! But in all this hanging around doing a lot of nothing I have only been more aware of my own state of restlessness. As much as I say I worship the god of Leisure, I think I am bored to easily for this to be all that true of me. Too much down time makes my brain totally shut down. So, here I sit, with nothing to say because we have done a whole lot of nothing lately...

Reflections on Ashes and Kids

The children and I attended an Ash Wednesday service yesterday at St. Mary's Catholic Church. It was lovely. I don't know what it is about Catholic mass, but it moves me to tears almost every time. Something in the beautiful reverence for our God that I fear is missing in most protestant environments, I guess. Anyway, the priest called us to a time of prayer, fasting and alms giving - the traditional 3-fold Lenten experience. Then we all got in line to receive the ashes. I was so moved. When the lay minister placed an ashen cross on the foreheads of my children and recited "Remember from dust you were formed and to dust you shall return," I just lost it.

My GOD! What a God we serve - Glory Be that we can say, with the utmost confidence that WE WILL NOT RETURN TO DUST but live eternally with our RISEN LORD. Glory HALLELUJAH! Oh my goodness, I am just busting with that truth. It was all I could do not to stand up and shout from the pew this profound truth.

Phew... I also got to thinking about how I could get the kids more on board with this Lent Thing, because they definitely did not get what that service was all about. SO - We are going to make a paper chain with 40 links and on each link will be something we give up for that day or do that day to help us prepare for Easter.

I'm off to Bible study now. I wish I had time just now to go into the AMAZING things God is showing me through this study of Esther. Maybe tomorrow. Until then -

Today's The Day!

Happy Ash Wednesday!
I think that might be an oxymoron, actually. Ash Wednesday is not really meant to be a day of rejoicing, but a day of mourning. We mourn our sinful natures and our evil ways. We grieve because we have grieved God. As ashes in the shape of the cross are bestowed upon the forehead, in many traditions the following words are spoken over the penitent:

Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return. (Latin: Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.)

—Genesis 3:19

Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.

—Mark 1:15

Repent, and hear the good news.

—Mark 1:15

Today is to be a day of reflection upon the things we do which displease God. Not exactly uplifting. But 40 days from today is the awe-some moment when we realize our freedom from these actions/habits/sins and embrace the Risen Christ. I have goosebumps.

I believe in the value of spending this day in mourning. I believe in the value of spending 40 days renouncing these things. What a way to build up glorious anticipation for the resurrection!

The next forty days hold some exciting things for me:

• Blogging everyday again! I gave up Spiritual Reflection as soon as I gave up blogging... so lesson learned and I will be at it once again, but in a new way.
• Limiting sugar and electronic devices. - I am setting the stage for Holy Week, when my entire family will join me in this one - No TV for a week should probably be the end of Vivi.
• Practicing Intentional (not random) Acts of Kindness. - More on this later, but this is in an effort to displace the "Mean Girl" in me.
• Exercising 2x a week. Sounds ridiculous, only TWO times?! But if manage to faithfully do this, it will be by the grace of God.

In these practices I attempted to impact the four aspects of my life: Spiritual (blogging and kindness acts), Mental (ALL), Physical (diet and exercise), and Emotional (ALL) in an effort to recognize that ALL four of these areas of my life need to be cleansed and released from bad habits and the negative impact of sin. May the next forty days be a journey towards wholeness, but more importantly towards holiness.

One Week Warning!

Ash Wednesday is one week away. On most Christian calendars this marks the beginning of Lent. Wikipedia has a lot of information about the season of Lent and I include a small portion of that here:

There are traditionally forty days in Lent which are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance. The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigour during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbour). Today, some people give up a vice of theirs, add something that will bring them closer to God, and often give the time or money spent doing that to charitable purposes or organizations.

I really like the 3-level approach to Lent offered here. I will be prayerfully considering what my specific practices will be and wanted to encourage anyone to join me in a great historical tradition of celebrating Lent this year in this manor. Please consider sharing your 3 practices with me via this blog so we can all benefit from each other's ideas and encourage one another in the next 47+ days!

As soon as I have nailed down my choices for my Lent observance, I will share them with you all!