LENT is something that I have come to adore in recent years, however my feelings about it are hard to express.
This season actually tends to be the time of the year that I most enjoy. It is a time of slowing down and remembering who God is in preparation of Easter.
When participating in lent you are encouraged to give up a luxury in your life for forty days. During the forty days you abstain from the (now) forbidden luxury in the name of remember Christ. Except on the Sabbath, one day a week you declare the Sabbath and you party. You do NOT abstain on this day, on the Sabbath you partake and enjoy what you have given up.
I find that during Lent is the only time that I truly keep and appreciate the Sabbath. Other times in the year I do go to church and life goes on the same as any other day. However during Lent my focus is clearer and more direct, I find I appreciate my Sabbath day of rest, I slow down and truly just rest. I find that as I indulge in my luxury I think more clearly about who God is. I crave deeper intimacy with him, I find I crave to know more of His word just so that I can truly understand and appreciate why I am putting myself through a fast.
Yes we could all be very holy and proclaim that I should feel this way all year long, and I am not saying that this is not something I do not experience at other times of the year however there is just a different feeling associated with Lent. There is a shared knowledge that people are around the world are also partaking in this spiritual time, that you are all thinking and remember Christ together over these 40 days. Then at the end everyone celebrates together, we know truly how to celebrate the rising of Christ from the dead because we have been focusing and thinking on it for the last 40 days. This is truly a feast day, this is when the fast ends, this is when we all party.
So I encourage you to participate, just try it out once, what do you have to lose?
This season actually tends to be the time of the year that I most enjoy. It is a time of slowing down and remembering who God is in preparation of Easter.
When participating in lent you are encouraged to give up a luxury in your life for forty days. During the forty days you abstain from the (now) forbidden luxury in the name of remember Christ. Except on the Sabbath, one day a week you declare the Sabbath and you party. You do NOT abstain on this day, on the Sabbath you partake and enjoy what you have given up.I find that during Lent is the only time that I truly keep and appreciate the Sabbath. Other times in the year I do go to church and life goes on the same as any other day. However during Lent my focus is clearer and more direct, I find I appreciate my Sabbath day of rest, I slow down and truly just rest. I find that as I indulge in my luxury I think more clearly about who God is. I crave deeper intimacy with him, I find I crave to know more of His word just so that I can truly understand and appreciate why I am putting myself through a fast.
Yes we could all be very holy and proclaim that I should feel this way all year long, and I am not saying that this is not something I do not experience at other times of the year however there is just a different feeling associated with Lent. There is a shared knowledge that people are around the world are also partaking in this spiritual time, that you are all thinking and remember Christ together over these 40 days. Then at the end everyone celebrates together, we know truly how to celebrate the rising of Christ from the dead because we have been focusing and thinking on it for the last 40 days. This is truly a feast day, this is when the fast ends, this is when we all party.
So I encourage you to participate, just try it out once, what do you have to lose?
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