2 posts tagged “god”
Wait, that's not how you spell relief! (Sorry, those childhood commercials are deeply ingrained.)
I am completely dumbfounded about how much better I feel since this whole Lent thing started. While I'm still a little worried about a few things, they're reasonable things to worry about and I'm worried about them a normal amount. It always amazes me how much peace I feel about everything in my life when I focus less on my petty problems, and more on what I think God wants me to be doing.
I've done really well on my decluttering mission so far. There have been a couple of days when I only spent 15 minutes doing it, but one of those days was decluttering our medicine cabinet, so it was a quality 15 minutes. The other days, I've spent a couple of hours on the mission. I'm ashamed to admit how much stuff we have, but I've been working on an area in the back corner of our basement that is stacked high with boxes, and it's almost cleared out! I'm also a little ashamed of the vast amount of supplies I've moved over into my crafting/sewing/scrapbooking area. As I run across supplies, I remember buying them. Heck, I sometimes even remember what project I bought them for. I haven't been sorting through any of that stuff, I've just been moving it over to the area in the middle of the room that will (hopefully) soon be my craft area. I am embarrassed by how much stuff is there! I haven't been getting rid of any of it. I want to sort through it and see what I actually have before I decide what to get rid of. I can tell you that I'm all wiggly with excitement about the prospect of being able to actually do something artistic. I've heard that doing artistic things is a good stress reliever. I can't wait to try out that theory!
I think my goal for today is going to be to try to sort all of that stuff out. Since Sundays don't count in the Lenten season, I might even get to do something artistic as soon as tomorrow!!!
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, and our new church has an Ash Wednesday service. (Yes, I walked around yesterday with ashes on my head for awhile.) Simon didn't fully understand the tradition, so Steve explained it to him along these lines:
Do you remember last year on Palm Sunday, when the kids walked into the church waving palm branches to symbolize all the fanfare people gave Jesus when he first came into Jerusalem because they thought he was going to be the king that they'd been expecting? Then, when they found out that he wasn't there to be their king in the way they thought he was supposed to be, they kind of turned their backs on him, right? Everyone was so excited about Jesus' coming, and then that excitement kind of fizzled out.
It kind of works the same way with us. Around Easter time, we feel a renewed excitement about Jesus. It's like we remember that we can have a fresh start to be the person Jesus wants us to be. Then Easter passes, and we get back to our normal lives, and our excitement kind of dries up as we forget about what Easter was like.
Last Palm Sunday, you waved fresh, green palm branches. If you brought that palm branch home, and stuck it on your shelf, what do you think would happen to it as the year goes on? It would become dry and dusty, right? Kind of like how our Easter spirit for being like Jesus dries up and gets dusty as the year goes by.
The reason you don't get to take your palm branch home, is because they save them to burn them to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday. Kind of like the ashes of the dusty, dried up palm branches helps remind us that our spirit has kind of dried up and become a little dusty. We need to become a little more humble, and remember what Jesus did for us. The ashes help remind us to be humble. To remind us to try to be more like Jesus, and to remind us that we need to return to depending on God and not ourselves.
I really liked his explanation.
Simon already kind of understands the idea of the Lenten season. He knows that we give something up or add something to our lives to help remind us of what Jesus went through when he was tempted for 40 days in the desert. In years past, we've given up things like meat, television and soda. (Simon didn't like it very much, but he understood.)
This year, since things have already been kind of in a turmoil, we decided not to give anything up for Lent. Our pastor had suggested to everyone that instead of giving something up, that we take something on that would be spiritually beneficial. I know that Steve and Simon and I all decided to add a Lenten devotional that we got from our pastor; but after dealing with all of my mom's clutter in her house, I think I also need to take stock of my our belongings because I think my love of possessions is keeping me from God.
Part of it is because we aren't able to fully use our house because of all of the clutter. I've always prayed for a home where I could have people over and have an in-home Bible study--but right now you can't even sit around my dining room table because of the clutter. The other thing is that I think I have faith issues where my stuff is concerned. It was ingrained in me from early on (by my depression era mother with o.c.d.) that you don't throw anything away because you might need it later. The thing is, if I keep everything I *might* need later, doesn't that mean I don't have faith in God to provide for me when I need it?
With that in mind, I've decided that for the 40 days of Lent, I am going to spend at least 15 minutes every day decluttering some area of my house. I'm going to take a hard look at all of this crap that I've felt like I've "needed" all these years just in case, and think about if maybe donating it to charity could get it in the hands of someone who needs it more. I know to some people this is no big deal, but it is actually hard for me to get rid of things like that. I seriously wind up with anxiety about it, and later on regret what I got rid of for a little while. It's hard when you were raised that it was bad to get rid of things, but it's a habit that I need to break for myself and so I don't pass it on to Simon.
Wish me luck!
