40 Days

As a kid growing up in a United Methodist church, Lent was the time of year where you spent Sunday evenings making crafts to get ready for Easter. As an adolescent, teenager, and college student attending a Baptist church, Lent was all but non-existent to me.  Now that I'm the wife of a soon-to-be Methodist minister, I am learning what Lent really is.

For the past two years, I participated in Blood:Water Mission's 40 Days of Water campaign.  I drank only water for 40 days and it was a challenge, but I felt like my main motivation for participating was guilt. I figured if I worked for Blood:Water, I should probably take part, and then I didn't have to come up with something else to sacrifice.  *Disclaimer: 40 Days is an awesome, life-changing thing. It made a difference in my life and makes a huge impact on the lives of those in Africa. If you have never observed Lent before, or are still thinking about a way to participate, 40 Days of Water is a great way to start.

This year, however, I wanted to give up something that was truly a sacrifice for me, because the Easter season is about the sacrifice God made for my life.  So, I've given up TV.  Now, I have to be honest.  There are a few shows that are "in season" right now and I'm going to watch them weekly on my iPad. So to clarify, I'm giving up EXCESS TV.  This means no more Today Show in the morning, no more cooking shows at lunch, no more "whatever is on is better than anything else I could be doing when I get home from work," and no more Saturday marathons of "Real Housewives of Wherever They're From." I'd estimate that I spend at least 20 hours every week actively and non-actively watching the tube.  For at least 40 days, I'll only watch 4-5 hours each week. In the mornings, I'll be actually getting ready and making it to work on time. I'll spend my lunch break taking Max to the dog park and reading my Lenten devotional. My evenings will be full of spending quality time with Marcus, reading, quilting, and blogging! I'm looking forward to cutting out the mindless laziness and spending more time with God and doing really productive things.

I'm sorry if this post is a little boring, but I needed to write this for my own accountability. Feel free to ask me how it's going, or if you're observing Lent, I'd love to hear what you're giving up/taking on.  And stay tuned for updates- I'll hopefully be blogging more regularly now that I won't be watching any more Tabitha's Salon Takeover...man I'm gonna miss that show!