Most people give up something for Lent. I realize it's like fasting, but why? Yes, I grew up Baptist, and Baptists don't do much for Lent, other than prepare themselves for the Easter season coming up.
(Sidenote: I used to work at the University of Dayton, which is a Catholic university. I remember the first time I saw people walking around with ash on their foreheads. I had no idea it was Ash Wednesday and was quite freaked out. I finally asked someone and I'm pretty sure they couldn't believe I had never heard of this Lenten tradition. I'm sad I missed the chance to take part of Ash Wednesday while I worked there.)
I've never given up anything for Lent. A lot of my friends have, even the ones who aren't Catholic, but I've never seen the point of denying yourself something for just a season. There's a lot of things I could sacrifice and give up but if they're healthy, it would be bad to give them up. And if they're not healthy, then I'm just doing what I should have done anyway. Right?
Last year I decided I wanted to give up something for Lent. I went through the laundry list of things people usually give up: chocolate, fast food, soda pop, facebook, etc. And then it hit me, I was going to give up sleeping in and read my Bible each morning instead. (When something "hits me" I assume it's God and I go with it.) So on February 22nd last year, I set my alarm to go off every day at 6:30 am and I woke up and read my Bible. And every day of Lent, I woke up at 6:30 and read my Bible. (There was a vacation in Gatlinburg where I didn't set my alarm, but I did make sure I read my Bible as soon as I woke up.)
And for the past ten months I have continue to read my Bible as soon as I wake up. This is something I've never done before. Yeah, I'll admit it, I haven't regularly read my Bible for an entire year since High School. I'm not proud to admit it, but I wanted to share because a habit started from deciding to give up something for Lent. A GOOD habit. No, I don't get up at 6:30 am to read anymore, but I do know I need to set my alarm about 20 minutes before I need to get out of bed so I have time to do my reading.
In the past if I had time to read, I'd read a book and then if I had extra time, I might read my Bible. Now I have that time in the morning to read, and it's always my Bible. And if I have extra time, I'll read another book. I enjoy reading my Bible. I crave reading my Bible. The stories are all fitting together and almost daily I have an "ah-ha!" moment. It's pretty awesome.
(Sidenote #2: If you're a friend of mine on facebook, you'll notice that I post almost daily that I've finished my daily reading. This is a way of being accountable and hopefully I'll inspire someone else to read their Bible that day.)
This morning I read day 322 of the Chronological reading plan through YouVersion on my ipad. I'll finish on March 27, 2013. I'm about a month behind, so no, I didn't read every day, but after 322 days I've missed about 30 days. I think that's pretty good. Especially considering my previous record. (Which would be more like missing about 322 days and reading on 30 days.)
Tomorrow starts the new Lenten season for 2013. I have no idea what I'm giving up this year, but I have a feeling it's sleeping in again. I'll definitely be setting my alarm for 6:30 and getting up and doing... something. Running? Laundry? Cleaning the attic? Actually, I might take that extra time and work on relationships. Anyone want to get coffee at 6:30 tomorrow? ;)
I'm blogging this to encourage you to give up something you don't really need to take on a good, healthy habit that you actually stick with after Lent is over. Hopefully you'll also find that the "have to" period turns into a "get to" period. When you don't have to do something anymore, will you still want to do it?
