Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Thoughts on Lent- a different perspective

I've never been a "lenter."  Growing up in a Calvary Chapel (which is a denomination- I mean come on, it even has it's own heading in the phone book!) lent was never something that we even talked about, let alone practiced.

This year I am participating in the Bible in 90 Days which will end right before Easter and I figured that was a pretty good spiritual goal in and of itself, not really feeling the need for anything more... until last night that is!  As I was giving my Google Reader one last glance last night I found this post at (in)Courage by Ann Voskamp at A Holy Experience.  On her own blog she has an entire series about journaling as a spiritual discipline.  Um... wow!  Can you say inspirational?  And incredibly timely?!

For starters, I have always been drawn to paper, pens, journaling, and altered book sorts of art, so this idea of making a book of even your lists more beautiful, really strikes a cord with me!  I have actually toyed with the idea of some sort of artful journaling for quite some time and this post just seems to drive the idea all the way home.

Just the title of the post in and of itself "Life as Art," really speaks to me because lately I have been specifically praying about how I can add more joy and beauty to my life and the life of my family this year- how I can just make things a little bit more lovely.  The mixed cloud of spiritual warfare, financial hardship and bouts of postpartum depression that has plagued our home this year can seem so daunting and disheartening that I know I need to take deliberate steps towards joy and contentment, and last night I felt the Lord gently nudging my heart in this beautiful direction.

So my commitment for lent this year (a first) will be more about establishing new habits to gain more spiritual discipline than eliminating something from my life (other than maybe sleep!).  I am going to reignite my attempt at The Early Bird Challenge for starters and then I am also going to commit to journaling in some form, every day.  I hope that this will just be the beginning of a discipline that will continue throughout the rest of the year, and my life for that matter!  Of course, I will be documenting my process right here!  Haha- journaling about journaling!

As a family we will also be starting a new book for our family devotions called "Leading Little Ones to God" which should hopefully arrive by tomorrow from Amazon.  I will be talking all about that over at The World According to R-Man, so hop over there for more on that!

1 comment:

Terri said...

Oh- I just discovered Ann Voscamp's blog last week too, and it is hands down my new favorite. SO inspiring. Yeah for you Mackenzie- I also have heard good things about the "Leading Little Ones..." book. My pastor's wife uses it, in fact. Maybe I'll get a copy and go through it with Lindy. Blessings to you and your family!