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.