Only for Lent? Why?

After doing my daily morning Bible study with my husband this morning, we discussed the call to what the Lenten season entails. When we talked about sacrifice, reflection, surrendering, repentance and giving, we equated this practice with our everyday mantra. Just as we do not entertain waiting to buy Christmas gifts during the Christmas season, giving thanks and volunteering during Thanksgiving, or waiting for Valentine's Day to buy each other a special gift to show our love for each other, we wondered about the true implication of "only observing" giving up, reflecting or repenting during the 40 days of Lent.

Now, please note that this is not an act of sarcasm or rebellion, but we honestly could not think about what to give up during Lent. Why? Because those things or people who create turmoil, debilitating and toxic habits, or strongholds that keep us from praising God every single day of our lives, are some of the things we give up each day. Does this mean that we do not observe Lent? We do, but we have not waited to only practice surrendering when the season leading up to Easter arrives.

As we pray for guidance and understanding to be better stewards as God put us here to be, we seek a discerning spirit and wisdom to know better, do better and be better. May the season of Lent and any other holiday that calls for reflection, thanksgiving, love and celebration be in your hearts every single day. Do not constrain yourselves to only focusing on the principles of Lent, when we ring in the season on Ash Wednesday, but let those principles penetrate deep within your heart and reflect the "Light" to shine forth every single day, so that others may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven. This is how each person can help to heal the world and make it a better place for all of us, instead of waiting for an assigned time to begin.

Lent: A Time for Reflection, Repentance and Renewal

Today is Ash Wednesday and the first day of the Lenten season. On this day many ceremonies conduct the implication of ashes on the foreheads of members and those attending the ash services. Ashes were used in ancient times to express grief. The gesture was also used to express sorrow for sins and faults. Christians continued the practice of using ashes as an external sign of repentance.

Lent is a 40-day religious observance in the liturgical calendar of many Christian denominations that is a time of spiritual preparation through fasting, praying, repenting, atonement, self-denial and giving. According to the Gospels in the New Testament of the Holy Bible, Jesus spent 40 days before beginning his public ministry. The number 40 has many significant Biblical commemorations (the number of days Moses spent on Mt. Sinai with God, the number of days and nights of the great flood, the number of years the Hebrew people wandered in the desert and several other occasions.)

Many people will personally commemorate Lent by fasting, praying and giving in their spiritually unique way. Pray to God for guidance and focus on Reflection-Repentance-Renewal. 

Kicking Off Lent with Ash Wednesday

Image Credit: discoveringfaith.com

Today is Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of the Lenten season. Ash Wednesday ceremonies entail marking the forehead with ashes as a visible cross. Lent originated as mirroring Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert where he endured temptation by Satan. Lent occurs 46 days, in which 40 days are fasting days. The 6 Sundays in Lent are excluded and set as a feast day in which fasting is not appropriate.

As I was reading my morning Bible lesson and Discipline (Isaiah 58:1-12) this morning, which talks about fasting that pleases God, Lent is an invitation to the observance of a holy Lent. This is not fasting, just to be fasting, but by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word through self-examination and repentance, by prayer fasting and self-denial. Fasting occurs in many forms, but it is the choice to abstain from whatever may get in the way of our relationship with God, whether it is food, habit or attitude. Although fasting is typically associated with the abstention from food for a certain period of time, fasting is an offering to God for us to overcome being and doing what we please and do what God wants us to do. This requires doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God. We must avoid being hypocrites by going through the motion and ritual of fasting, and not changing our attitudes to walk in justice, as we fast and pray.

So whatever it is that you choose to give up for Lent, whether it is fasting or a habit that disconnects us from God, do it with a humble and unselfish heart. Do it so that it is pleasing to God and not for the sake of man.

16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

- Matthew 6:16-18 (NIV)

In Observance of Holy Week

Some moments do not need words to describe it’s Power and Excellence! May you find peace, hope and gratitude during this Holy Week.