40 Days of Lent - Feelings of Anticipation and Excitement

This year I am especially excited about the time of Lent. Growing up in a Protestant family, we were never taught about Lent, or at least not in the sense of how the Catholic church teaches and recognizes these 40 days before Easter. This year is different for a couple different reasons and I'm excited that God is teaching me something new.

First of all, I had decided a while back (about this time last year in Knoxville) that it was important that I attend church with DJ. As a family. When we were first married, DJ and I had agreed that we would each attend our respective churches. I went to an Evangelical church because that is where I felt most comfortable. DJ went to a Catholic church. But, although I very much enjoyed attending the Evangelical worship services, I always felt like something was missing. It felt strange to meet people and let them know I was married but my husband wasn't someone that they would probably ever meet. He was my other half and I didn't feel like people could really get to know the person that I am without also knowing DJ. That wasn't always true but for the most part, I didn't like that DJ was always this unknown person to them. So I decided to start attending church with DJ. I feel like that is where God wants me but it took me awhile to figure it out. There is a whole other post there which I might someday decide to write but for now I want to stay on the topic of Lent.

So in attending the Catholic church I have learned to enjoy the rich traditions that the church follows. One of them, of course, is Lent.

The second reason that this year is different from past years is I am in a place in my life right now where I could really use a focused time to get my heart back into the right place. My priorities have been skewed for a number of different reasons and I think this Lenten season is just the thing to get those priorities back into the proper focus. The timing is right. Again, it's very exciting to see God working in my life and I want to give Him the full reins of that task. Since Lent focuses a lot on prayer, I know that time spent in quiet will give God that opportunity to teach me.

And lastly, because I'm in a constant state of learning when it comes to the Catholic church, I'm curious (and excited) to see what the Lenten season does to my perspective of Easter and the Resurrection. In years past, Easter, of course, means the Resurrection of Jesus and it's exciting because we worship a risen Saviour but I don't think I ever fully dwelled on that fact. It was just a fact that I grew up knowing and believing. But I yearn for something different, something deeper. I want to feel the impact of what our Lord has done for each and everyone of us. Not just on a superficial level but on a much deeper, more profound level.

So I've been reading a lot about what the Church teaches (and requires) during Lent. I don't think I've fully grasped everything yet but this is not an all or nothing thing. I'm pretty sure God will use whatever I give Him so I'm not worried about getting it perfect.

Here are a few things that I've decided to do:

• Not eat meat on Ash Wednesday or the Fridays during the Lenten season (including Good Friday)
• Wake up 30 minutes earlier each day and spend those minutes in quiet prayer and meditation of God's Word
• Give up Facebook for 40 days and pray when I "miss" it (This one is a little embarrassing to admit because I spend a ridiculous amount of time each day checking Facebook just to see what's going on. Hopefully it won't take long for me to stop "missing" Facebook and I will just use that time in more productive ways.)
• Participate in a Lenten devotion with DJ
• Find little ways each day to increase my giving to others whether it's through my actions or monetarily.

I have great expectations of how God will use these 40 days to work in my life. It's obvious to me that He doesn't need anything special to work in however He sees fit because He's continually working in my life everyday. And I'm so grateful for that. However this time will help me to get back in step with Him sotospeak. Hopefully it will create new habits. Habits that I can carry past the Lenten season.

And that's just exciting to me.