Thoughts with a warm cup of coffee at the end of Lent

Lent has ended, Easter has come and Christ has risen.

I got up today and made myself a warm and comforting cup of coffee and once again thanked the Lord for all the incredible blessings in my life including coffee. I know it sounds shallow to be thankful for such a little thing but truly over the past 40 days I have come to realize how much coffee serves as a reminder of how much God loves me.

I wont lie to you and tell you that Lent or the act of giving up coffee was easy because frankly it wasn't. I spent more time than I wont to admit to wondering at why I would give up something as vital to life as coffee, and in those moments I will admit my mind did not immediately jump to my feelings about God. There were incredibly challenging days where I know that a cup of coffee would have made them better, but now that I have reached the end I'm thankful.

I reached the end only because I have a loving and faithful God. I found that I frequently use other things in life as a crutch to get through a hard day or stressful situation. Instead of remembering who I am or that I have God with me I look to other things that inevitable drain me or just do not give me the results that I want. I get weighed down by the world, I forget that I am FREE, that I am not tied down by sin or regrets. That I have been bought at a price and not only did God buy my freedom he did it without regret, he did it out of all consuming love.

There is something so wrong and yet so right about
jumping puddles. Its messy, wet, dirty, rebellious fun,
to me freedom can sometimes feel and look like this

Last year my verse was John 10:10

The thief comes to steal kill and destroy

I have come so that you may have life

and have it to the full.

Before that it was Galatians 5:1

It is for freedom that Christ has set us 

FREE

Do you sense a theme here? It seems that I need to be frequently reminded that I am free. 

I think that maybe that's why I love lent so much because it reminds me and makes me aware of all the many things that I rely on instead of God. Easter wakes me up, it reminds me of who God is and within Him who I am. 

Some people use New Years as their time to do self reflecting and to make goals for the coming year. I'm pretty sure without consciously making that decision I do that at Easter. It fits for me, spring is coming. Around Easter I find myself looking at the past year, I remember that good time and the hard times that I have lived through. I look for where God was and is in my life, its a time that I refocus with God. During lent I think I prepare and in some ways wear myself down so that I am ready, willing and happy to talk about the different areas in my life that need growth because during lent I see how weak I really am. Its a time that I see clearly the places that I struggle and with seeing these not so pleasant parts of myself I am ready and willing to let God help me to make these changes in my life.

Maybe I am expressing myself wrong but for now this works for me.

Lent has ended and Christ has risen, today I rejoice because we are loved by a God who calls us beloved. So please today of all days thank God, think of him and just rejoice in your blessings. 

Be not afraid.