Lent, Fasting, & Sabbath

Today was finally a day warm enough to go for a run outside without worrying about slipping on the ice, or freezing my eyelashes.  The sun is just beautiful!  The days are getting longer, and even though the grass is still covered with snow, I feel the hope of 'spring' in the air.

We are about to start Lent as a church.  Lent is a practice that Daniel and I have done before and found great meaning and growth through it.  For those who don't know, Lent is the 40 day period before Easter, that is held by many Christians as a time of anticipation and preparation of the body and spirit to repent and then come to Easter to celebrate and rejoice.  Fasting is a large part of this time.  I used to think that fasting simply meant "disciplining" yourself to give up something, and for many years I practiced the discipline of withholding.  However I now see fasting as very much tied to the act of eating food; and it is a practice of not eating, so that you can "consume" more of the Spirit of God.  (There's a great sermon that explains this in more depth you can message me for if you're interested).  It is through fasting that a lot of sin and fleshly desires come to the surface.  I see this as a great next step after our Soul Care conference a few months ago.

The other thing I am excited to dwell into more is the concept of Sabbath.  At various periods in my life I have prioritized the Sabbath, and now it is something that I am excited to engage upon with my whole family.  We haven't really figured out how to do this yet... as my husband's main "working" days are Saturday and Sunday... but we will grow into it.  I think we truly are a busy, distracted, disengaged society, and the Sabbath is a time to stop, rest, be mindful, and engage with yourself and with others.  I know that my inner being longs for that. I envision a day without an "agenda" where we can laze around the morning (as much as we can with 5-year old early risers), enjoy coffee and pancakes together, go for a walk, put away our phones, hang out with friends, and meet with our Church to celebrate and be in Jesus' presence together.

So that is the journey we are embarking on over the next few months.  Our calendar is busy in the upcoming weeks, but I am so excited to make space and breathing room for the Spirit of God to move. As always, I'll keep you posted on how it goes.  And please feel free to share any stories or thoughts of your own!  May you be blessed this Lenten season.