Lent

I have never really celebrated Lent, never thought or felt led to sacrifice anything. But this year I did, so I have given up chocolate (and for those of you who know me, that's huge). I know Biblically I am not supposed to make a big deal about it and tell people, but I wanted to share my journey, because, well, that's just me to talk about it. I also decided to not completely give up facebook, but to sacrifice a lot of it by only checking it once or twice a day instead of once or twice an hour. That only lasted a day. I'm doing better on the chocolate. We have some valentine's candy left and I haven't touched it. But there was the hot chocolate I drank at a baseball game last weekend because I was freezing, and it didn't even dawn on me until the next day that it was chocolate. (The name should have given me a clue.) So it wasn't that I chose to ignore my sacrifice, I just didn't think about it. And then there was the delicious red velvet cupcake I ate on Tuesday, forgetting that there is chocolate in it. The red coloring threw me. But I do get the point. There have been moments that I have craved it majorly! But at those moments I remembered the sacrifice I was making and how small in comparison it is to the sacrifice that Christ made for me. I read somewhere that giving up something for Lent leaves space for God to come in and speak to you, and I like that. I have looked at THIS LINK a few times and read some inspiring things that God has used to speak to me. I'm really liking some quotes from St. Augustine of Hippo and want to do some more research on him. Maybe another blog post coming on that. I have also been reading through the New Testament in 40 days with our church. I'm only a day behind. Its giving me a new perspective to read it all so fast, I'm seeing the big picture and can really tell the differences in the writers when I'm reading them back to back. Some big things have jumped out at me and maybe that will be another blog too!