LENT

Today is Ash Wednesday....the beginning of the Lenten season.  Growing up, I didn't practice Lent.  I didn't even know what it was until I was in my 30's.  When I first started practicing Lent, I thought of it as a time of sacrifice, but now I consider it more of a time of conversion.  Fasting from something does indeed call for sacrifice, but sometimes I feel I have not taken this seriously enough.  Over the last 5 years or so, I've been very intentional about what I've fasted; and most of the time I've been successful....sort of.  However as I've been thinking about this over the last few days, I realized that my sacrifices needed to be something more.  I'm not talking about fasting more stuff, although that's not a bad idea either; I'm talking about more challenging, impactful, heart changing, life changing, me changing.  There has only been one time, that I can recall, that I fasted a particular something and actually gave that up for pretty much ever.  It was about 6 years ago, and I decided to challenge myself during Lent; so I gave up soda and bread. I know that may not sound very challenging, but I was addicted to coke. Coca Cola people, so let's stop that rumor chain before it even gets started.  During that time, I lost 20 pounds.  I was a pretty healthy eater and exercised a lot, but during that Lenten season; I was physically and emotionally impacted by bread and soda and the changes in my mind and body.  That year after Easter, I made some huge changes in my diet.  I did not drink another Coke for the next 5 years.  Since then I've had a taste every now and then, but nothing I would crave daily like I use to.  I took on a clean eating regimen and over the next 4 months; I lost another 25 pounds.  My life has changed a lot since I started taking better care of my body, and that got me thinking about this year's fast.  I've been praying for something, that I can challenge myself with, that will impact me forever, not just for 40 days (not including Sundays).  It wasn't until this morning, when I was praying and thinking about what daily encouragement to send to my children, that I found it. What I want to do for Lent.  I want to practice positivity more intentionally and to hopefully make an impact on other people, as well as, myself.

I need more positive, and I need to be the positive for others.  The world is a hard place, it's a scary place, it's an unfair place; but it's where we are.  I find myself focusing on negative a lot lately, because there is so much of it.  It's time to refocus, recenter, rethink and remember....there is positive in the world, even in the hard, scary and unfair....sometimes it's hard to see, but we have to keep looking! This is something that I know will change me and hopefully impact others....not in a PollyAnna sort of way....but in an "I'm here for you, and I love you" sort of way!  I know I will stumble, but I am praying this mind set will keep me centered on shining light in the darkness instead of fumbling to try to find the switch and then giving up.  This might sound like an easy thing to do, but to be successful and make this a lasting change; there is more to this than just a positive attitude. It will need to be a way of thinking about things, seeing things, praying for things and approaching things.  I will need to focus on my mind and energy and transforming them when life is hard, scary and unfair.  Look for the beauty and when I can't see it, know it's there and keep looking.