Happy Lent!
If you don't know, Lent is the forty days before Easter in which many Christian denominations practice fasting in preparation for our observance of Christ's death and resurrection. Growing up, we would identify something that had become almost an "idol" for us, something that would be difficult for us to go without, and then we would fast from it for the 40 days. The point was to lean on God for our strength when we were tempted to give in, and use it to help us get closer to God. Sometimes instead of fasting we would "add something" beneficial, like 20 minutes of prayer time every morning for 40 days, or reading a chapter of the Bible each day.
This year I am doing a little of both. Since I am not working, I have a considerable amount of free time. I find myself checking Facebook on my phone at least once an hour. It's fun to be up to date on what's going on with all my friends, but at the same time, it irritates me how much of a reflex it is to check Facebook and then get sucked into it. I know that I waste a lot of time on the site without meaning to. I am not going to completely fast from Facebook, (so don't be surprised if you see me post something) since I live so far away from friends and family and would like so still see what's going on, but I am going to significantly cut down how long I go on. Right now, I am setting the time for 15 min. each evening - enough time for a quick glance, and to answer any notifications or messages I may have. In a few weeks I will probably go down to every other day. This may sounds like cheating, and you may wonder why I don't just cold turkey turn it off for 40 days, but I am using this as an excuse to practice better self control - something I will carry on after the 40 days are over.
More importantly, Dave and I are ADDING daily devotion/ Bible studies. We have gotten so busy, and mixed up with his ever changing work hours we had fallen behind, so now we are going to get back to where we need to be.
Last night I came across a verse that hit home to me why we do lent. The context of the verse is that Israel was continuing to do evil in the sight of the Lord, even after He had saved them from slavery in Egypt. They had stopped putting their trust in the Lord, and were worshiping false idols.
"They followed worthless idols, and themselves became worthless" 2 Kings 17:15
This made me think about the worthless things that we spend our time chasing and worshiping - money, fame, status, popularity etc... Let's not worship worthless idols, and ourselves become worthless.
