Ash Wednesday 2012

Today is the first day of Lent...the first day of 40 on the journey to Easter.

Today was a hard day...one where exhaustion wears heavy on bones...the kind where piles of dirty clothes loom large and energy is low. (Can I give up doing laundry for Lent?) I've been thinking all about this first day of Lent. I put on my Easter music mix and began to pray and ponder what lies ahead in the next 40 days.

Easter is a big deal to me. It's my soapbox. I wasn't raised in a church that celebrated Lent. But in the last five years, it has become very significant to me. I'm not sure how it all started, but I think it had to do with teaching my first-born Anne about what Easter was really all about. I began to realize how little time was spent on Easter versus Christmas, for example.

I desired to be intentional about taking a season to celebrate Easter with my children. And, as with many areas in parenting, the Lord refined me in the process. He spoke to my heart about how I would honor him in the 40 days.

And so we step into Lent 2012. I don't plan to give up something specific for Lent. But as I was praying today, the Lord told me he wanted me to be nearer.

I look up "draw near." And this appears:

^"...let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:22-23

Uhhhhh...yeah. Okay, that might be fitting for my Easter season.

I feel His calling to me to draw near, spend time with him. I've been doing my Bible Study and praying, but to be honest it's been half-hearted at best. Squeezed in, interrupted 5 times by kids, checked off the to-do list. I've not be drawing near.

And now he tells me to draw near...come close....spend time with me....listen.

This will mean I need to get up before the kids. It means I will have to go to bed and not watch episodes of Downton Abbey until 11:30 p.m. If I am to draw near, there are some things I will need to do or not do so that I can peel open my eyelids in the early a.m. And so there is a taking away of something, I suppose. A giving-up of sorts this Lent.

But I expect in the giving up and drawing near, there will be much gained.

------------------------------------------------

Get a free Easter/Lent devotional from Ann Voskamp.

I love this bowl-of-flour idea, also from Ann.

Other Mustard Seeds posts having to do with Lent:

• Ash Wednesday
• Merry Easter?
• My Favorite Lent Devotional

Comments

[Kelly]

I must tell you how much I love your blog & look forward to reading your posts. I love your heart for the Lord!

[Beth]

I have been reading your blog for a while but never commented. I enjoyed hearing what you are "giving up" as sorts for lent, it was a good challenge for myself.