The season of Lent, unfortunately, is not one which many Protestants recognize as important, but celebrating Lent through sacrifice can be one of the abundant times of growth in your spiritual life. My great friend Jess just wrote a great piece concerning Lent; please read her words and consider this season. In her post, Jess included one of my favorite excerpts from the book Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper. I don't know how many times I've referenced this book on this blog, but I know it's a lot; seriously, if you don't own already, this is definitely not only a 'must-read' but a 'must-own'. You will go back to it time and time again! Piper explains the reason and meaning of Lent:
“It is a time for turning away from anything that has kept us from God and for turning or returning to him. It is a time to pray that God will renew our love for him and our dependence on him.”
Each year, I try to choose something from which to fast and sometimes determine something specific which needs to be added into my life. This year, I am willingly giving up facebook and (not so) willingly giving up chocolate. I don't think either one of these things is inherently evil, but I do know that I end up piddling away a great amount of time on facebook and that my recent consumption of (large amounts of) chocolate has been rather unhealthy. Instead of the time I would literally waste on facebook, I'm going to focus on community and developing deeper relationships with the people around me- most importantly our community group through church.
Though the season of Lent is only forty days (which may seem like an eternity when fasting from all chocolate in every form), I know that what I learn and experience in the next several weeks will have a great impact on my life. Have you considered fasting from something during the season of Lent?
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2 comments:
I think Treasuring God in our Traditions is one of those books I'm going to start buying for people as a wedding present.
I still haven't given much thought about what to give up for Lent, but I'm thinking it might have to do with the computer and how much time I spend in front of it.
So...you're keeping the cheese and giving up the chocolate? Yeah, made me feel a little bad there considering I just finished off one of those small Valentine heart chocolate boxes. :P
I already buy it as a wedding/shower present. I LOVE IT! More than a week without chocolate and facebook and I'm doing great :) Jacyln's shower might be rather difficult...
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