What We Learned During Lent This Year
Happy Palm Sunday (this weekend!) and Feast of the Annunciation! And Easter! (Almost!) Soon we'll all be saying: He is risen- he is risen indeed!
Now that Lent is indeed almost over, as we're looking back, I have to be honest about these almost 40 days. We took Lent by the horns this year. It was hard. We went full-throttle and gave up a whole bunch of really lovely things. It was extremely hard at times not to eat that piece of chocolate. But we did learn - oh boy did we learn- a whole bunch. All of us. The whole family!
So, the question remains: what- exactly- did we learn during Lent this year?
1. Prayer
First of all, we learned to pray more.
In the afternoons, when I usually have my cup of tea and read while the kids nap, I often felt a slight depression at having decided to limit caffeine and my intake of hot tea. During those times, I usually prayed. I found it so hard not to resort to my usual compulsive behavior: checking all of the social media apps on my phone, while sipping a soda or hot beverage. Praying the hours gave me stability and a cohesiveness that I needed in the middle of the day, and as it turns out, more than I needed caffeine. That was not an easy lesson to come, but once prayer became more of a habit, I was so glad. It was then easier to reroute to a good book in the afternoons and evenings. My one regret is that we didn't take up the habit of praying more as a family. Now we have the impetus to put that on the agenda for Eastertide!
Read the rest at Picture a Skyline ~ tacywilliamsbeck.com
Now that Lent is indeed almost over, as we're looking back, I have to be honest about these almost 40 days. We took Lent by the horns this year. It was hard. We went full-throttle and gave up a whole bunch of really lovely things. It was extremely hard at times not to eat that piece of chocolate. But we did learn - oh boy did we learn- a whole bunch. All of us. The whole family!
So, the question remains: what- exactly- did we learn during Lent this year?
1. Prayer
First of all, we learned to pray more.
In the afternoons, when I usually have my cup of tea and read while the kids nap, I often felt a slight depression at having decided to limit caffeine and my intake of hot tea. During those times, I usually prayed. I found it so hard not to resort to my usual compulsive behavior: checking all of the social media apps on my phone, while sipping a soda or hot beverage. Praying the hours gave me stability and a cohesiveness that I needed in the middle of the day, and as it turns out, more than I needed caffeine. That was not an easy lesson to come, but once prayer became more of a habit, I was so glad. It was then easier to reroute to a good book in the afternoons and evenings. My one regret is that we didn't take up the habit of praying more as a family. Now we have the impetus to put that on the agenda for Eastertide!
Read the rest at Picture a Skyline ~ tacywilliamsbeck.com
Comments
Post a Comment