Today makes the beginning of the third week of Lent! Thus far, I have been following a Lenten guide provided by a church that a friend of mine goes to. This guide is a very detailed packet that explains what Lent is all about and also challenges those who are following it to sacrifice something each week during the 40 day Lenten season.
I must say, the first two weeks have been rather regular for me. I haven't felt like I'm getting close to God within the realms of this guide I'm following, but I am still going on with my normal routine of fellowshipping and having praise, prayer, and worship.
During week one, participants were instructed to refrain from eating sweets and participating in self-indulgences. We were told to live as cheaply as possible and to only spend money if we absolutely had to. Any money that we wanted to spend, we were asked to give a sacrificial offering of that money to the church. On the first day, I bought a new pair of headphones because I didn't catch that part about giving up self-indulgences which consisted of not purchasing things. I was talking to my best friend and she mentioned that we weren't supposed to eat sweets OR buy anything. I was thinking to myself, oh wow....well I won't buy anything else! I then noticed that I don't really eat sweets anymore so to challenge myself, I decided I would refrain from eating my flavored yogurt during this period. I purchased a few cups of plain Greek yogurt and lets just say some days were harder than others and I was glad when the 7 days for this were up! I was also making frequent trips to the grocery store to restock on more food and purchasing gas. Even though these things are necessities, swiping my card for me handles that "fix" of feeling the need to spend money. And lastly, I made a purchase for an event I'm going to over the summer that I had to get right then and there because tickets were selling out fast! I felt a sense of conviction after I did this because I seriously knew that that was going against what we were asked to do. The groceries, the gas, and even the head phones (I had no idea) were one thing, but this was another. I also noticed I was not taking as much time to really mediate and go deeper in my relationship with God.
Week two, we were asked to fast from some form of food or a particular meal. The choice was yours. I chose to not eat meat for week 2. Because I already don't eat beef or pork, I was basically only giving up chicken and turkey. I had already done my meal prep for the week and it included chicken, so I just froze those meals until week 2 was over. This week wasn't too difficult since I was still eating fish and for only 7 days, it wasn't too bad. Still I didn't feel like I was really connecting on a deeper level. I think this is because I wasn't really setting aside the time that I needed to.
Moving on...week three! Week three started today and it asks that we refrain from any form of media (this includes television and music). Can I tell you how much of a struggle my 40 minute commute to work was this morning and afternoon??? I can see this week is going to be a long one!! I am already not a regular tv watcher so that really isn't a problem, but I love music!!! I breathe music!!! Music is a huge part of my every day life! I thought at first, I could at least continue to listen to my gospel music and that would be ok, but then I read on and it said nothing about still being able to listen to gospel. There is a lot of silence right now and I am basically feeling like this week will really open me up to experiencing God on another level. I didn't go to the gym today, but working out with no music is something I'm not looking forward to experiencing! I'm still going to do it, but it'll be interesting to see how this goes!
Next week I must refrain from social media and the internet! OMG....I can see right now that God and I are going to have some major time together!! Music is a big part, but me with no internet....oh boy it's going to get mad real over here!
Stay tuned and I'll be sure to update you on how things went (of course after that week is over).
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