Lent with Purpose

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Now for today's blog...



Wondering what this is a picture of? It's actually the Sea of Galilee. (I hope, I just Googled it!) So now you're wondering where I'm going with this. The reason for the picture is that my friend Sally is actually over in Israel for her spring break right now. She attends a Christian school in Indiana and had this wonderful opportunity to go and see the Promised Land through her school along with 80+ people. (If this is wrong Sal, correct me when you get back!)As she's been over there I've been thinking about her and her experience from time to time. How amazing would it be to know you are getting the opportunity to see and experience things that Jesus and his Disciples did? Especially at this time of the year during Lent. I can't wait to hear all about her trip and see all her wonderful pictures.

So what does this have to do with me? Well, the idea that she gets to experience Israel during Lent got me thinking about Lent. For those of you who don't know what Lent is, here's a dictionary.com definition:

Lent:
–noun
(in the Christian religion) an annual season of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday and lasting 40 weekdays to Easter, observed by Roman Catholic, Anglican, and certain other churches.


For the past few years I've either given something up or decided to do something to strengthen my relationship with Christ. This year my goal was to read The Purpose Driven Life, but it's embarrassing for me to admit that I did a really good job the first two days and have fallen short ever since. I wanted to read it each night before I went to bed and each night when bed time came around I was either too tired (sad, I know) or totally spaced it off (equally as sad). So I'm setting a new goal. I know that God wont care if I re-start my lent goal a little late and it goes a little bit past Easter. Here's to having a loving God who forgives and allows "do-overs". :) I'm going to start over. Each night from tonight through the end of the 40 days worth of book my goal is to not forget and read and spend time in this book. My church did it a few years back and I never actually picked up the book and read it along with everyone, I just participated on Sundays. So now I'm excited for two reasons. 1- Since I actually wrote it down here, it gives me an incentive to follow through. Especially since I'm promising you a full review and some of my thoughts about it in 40 days. :) 2- I'm excited to have these next 40 days during this Lent/Easter season to get to know God better.

I know we're a couple weeks into Lent, but for those of you readers, I'm curious. What did you decide to do for Lent this year? If it wasn't anything, don't feel bad. We all have different ways to connect with God and giving something up may not be yours. So no matter what you decided, shoot me a comment. I'm curious! :)