Lent Commitment!

Lent starts Ash Wednesday and ends after 3 PM on Good Friday - that's actually 44 days (Sundays aren't technically counted).

So what am I going to do for Lent? What can I sacrifice? The first thing that comes to mind is my love for all things sweet- but how much would that really benefit my relationship with God? (Let's not forget why we give things up). It wouldn't give me that much extra time- I can grab a cookie and shove it down my throat pretty fast.

Know what I think would be the most beneficial? Straight up spending more time with Jesus. 40 min./ day for 40 days. I like that thought. At first I was concerned though- do I have 40 extra minutes in my day? They are pretty jam-packed with stuff. Then conviction hit: Jesus does not deserve spare time in my life- he deserves the prime time. So that's what he's getting- for 40 days at least, and, hopefully for the rest of my life. Some things I will do are: read my Bible, pray/listen, journal to God, walk in His creation and praise Him, or worship Him on my guitar- but I will have no less than 20 minutes of Bible reading. I am sticking to this for 40 days- with God's massive amount of help I am sure!

One more thing came to mind: boys. I am going to sacrifice boys this Lent. Now that sounds pretty scary, so let me explain how and my rationale for it. I will commit to not initiating contact with guys during Lent- I will not purposefully seek them out by emailing, calling, visiting, or anything like that. This doesn't mean I won't respond to them- if they call and leave a message of course I'll call back, of course I'll eat with them or walk to class together- but I will not be initiating this kind of stuff. Why? I think far too often I am the pursuer- not even in a romantic way- just as a friend in general. But I want to focus on having more trust in God- this seems like an eye-opening way to do it.

I am really excited and feel like these two things will help me grow a lot closer to the Lover of my soul!