It is Ash Wednesday today. which marks the start of Lent and leads us into one of my favorite times of the year. I love the Easter season. Not because of bunnies, chocolate, painted eggs or anything like that. The reason that I love Easter is because it is the culmination of Christ's ministry. It is the end of sin and death's reign on earth, God wins. Good Friday we remember the crucifixion, we remember that it all looked lost, it looked like death and evil won. Easter morning the stone is rolled away and our Lord lives, He is a living God that defeated the grave. That gives us hope, because if Christ had just died for us and there was no resurrection death would still be the end. But because our Lord rose again we have the hope of eternal life, we have forgiveness, grace and mercy.
The reason I am excited for lent is because it is a time to prepare ourselves for that hope and the celebration of the resurrection. Oftentimes we give something up for lent as a symbolic gesture of remembrance of Christ's temptation in the wilderness. Catholics typically fast and if what I have read on the interwebs is right have many rules for eating during Lent, in my view this is reminiscent of the very legalistic view the Pharisees had during Jesus' day. I do however believe that there is value in giving something up that helps you focus more on Christ and His sacrifice for us. I also think that it is important to add something that helps us grow in our walk with Him. That is why for the first time in my life I am going to do something in observance of lent, in the past I have given up things like water-skiing or skydiving. I took it as a joke and gave up things that I don't do, or can't do because of the weather in Minnesota.
So this year I have decided to do the following...
-Fast during daylight hours during Lent.
-In an effort to take better care of myself I am also going to exercise on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays during Lent, hopefully this will carry over into the rest of the year. I am attempting to attach the idea that "my body is a temple" to this, but it is really probably more about having a day to start so that I can no longer say "I'll start tomorrow."
-I am going to read a book on and practice Lectio Divina as a way to further my study and understanding of the bible.
My hope and prayer is that these will help me grow closer to Christ and through this process I will better understand His love and Grace for humanity.
Are you doing anything to prepare for the celebration of Easter? If so what? If not why not?
