Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and it marks the beginning of Lent.
Lent in the Christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. Lent is a time of sacrifice for Jesus. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
(source-wikipedia)
I have made it my custom to spend this day before Ash Wednesday, in contemplation. I have typically, spent much time in prayer in the days and weeks prior so by the time this day before Ash Wednesday comes, I can honestly choose that part of me that I will give.
I have one particular thought that keeps coming to my mind. Share the love.
I completely understand and respect the idea of giving up something for the time of Lent. I agree with it. However, I have found a discipline that works best for me. It is just my own way of giving up for Jesus, of preparing my soul for a new life, one that comes after resurrection. So it has become my habit to choose a particular character that is “un-Christ-like” and work to rid myself of it. In these past few years I have been able to give up bitterness and selfishness (not that I don’t have those moments). I have been able to practice an attitude of forgiveness as I reach forward to the ways of Christ.
If you are a friend of my facebook you will know that I have been very forward with the thoughts of “sharing the love”, these past couple of weeks. God has been talking to me and I’m trying my best to listen.
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13.34-35 NLT
So this is my charge. For this time of Lent I will find ways, in all of my encounters, to share the love. I will be very intentional in my actions and my thoughts. When I begin to have negative thoughts, thoughts of anger or wrath, I will stop and remember the greatest commandment. I want to be like Him, and this is how I know my Lord…through His love.
“The most important commandment is this: …Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.”
Love your neighbor as yourself…these words I will be praying over heavily.
May your Lenten Season be productive!
Tracie
During this season of lent we are given the opportunity to experience something other than in our normal everyday lives; to experience something other than ourselves. We are invited to give up a part of ourselves that we would otherwise be dependent upon, or to cling. We are invited to experience the other possibilities in our self. In that process (those 40 days) we begin to suffer over the loss of the familiar. So often times it is much easier to continue clinging to old ways, to continue dependence on the familiar, to snuggle in the blanket of false security.
