As the season of Lent gets underway, I must give thanks to my mom for helping me change my perspective about these special days leading up to Easter. I used to always dread it. Mainly because I just viewed it as a time that I "had" to give up stuff I liked. Beer. Starbucks. Ice Tea. I gave them all up for Lent at one point or another and hated it. Evidently the concept that I could give up something besides beverages never ocurred to me.
Anyways, it was during one Lent season as I was whining, er, talking, about whatever I had given up when my mom said: "Instead of giving something up, why don't you take something up?"
Brilliant.
Rather than going without something, and being in a foul mood about it, why don't I take up something that brings some joy into my life (and hopefully others)? For some reason this small shift in thinking made all the difference. For me, it was a much more positive way to go about preparing for Easter. I could read more of the Bible. I could serve in a Soup Kitchen. I could get in touch with an old friend. The idea of "taking up" rather than "giving up" just made me much more excited about the whole thing. Thanks mom!
Which brings me to what I'm taking up this year: Blogging more.
Starting today, I will post short daily excerpts from my favorite book in the Bible, the Psalms. I love the Psalms because it's full of inspirational passages of people searching for God, questioning God, celebrating God. It's thousands of years old, but sounds a lot like people today.
Whether you are "giving up" or "taking up" may God bless you on your journey towards Easter Sunday this year.
Psalm 94: 16-19
"Who will protect me from the wicked? Who will stand up for me against evildoers? Unless the Lord had helped me, I would soon have died. I cried out, "I'm slipping!" and your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer."
This is one of my favorite Psalms, in part because of what it says, but more because of the time when I first read it. I was going though a terrible time at work. I had taken a job that on paper looked like my dream job. It was turning out to be a nightmare. I wasn't sleeping. I was racked with worry during the day, and then taking all that home to my wife and kids at night. Every Sunday afternoon around 4:00 in the afternoon my stomach would start churning, as I anticipated what Monday morning was going to bring me.
Good times.
It was at the height of this drama that my dear friend Patti (whom for many reasons I'm convinced is really an angel on this Earth) sent me an email. It was just an encouraging, "hang in there" kind of email that had this verse attached at the bottom. Exactly the right words at exactly the right time. I printed out the email, and still use it as a bookmark today. Such a good reminder that God is faithful even during the lowest points of life. Even it the times when it feels like nothing is going right, doubts fill my mind and I'm yelling out "I'm slipping!" Even then, God's unfailing Love is there to hold me steady.
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I remember several years ago, back when I thought I knew how to play the religion game, that I used the "giving up" period of Lent as a way of getting folks to notice me. "Hey, look at Phil. He's sooooooooo spiritual with this fasting thing he's doing." It was just such complete and utter bullshit, me doing it out of myself and not as a way of drawing closer to my Father...it's amazing he didn't strike me dead on the spot. I know now there's definitely a place for spiritual disciplines like fasting and meditation and solitude, but if your heart isn't in the right place, it's all just rubbish before a Holy God. Thanks for your blog post today for helping me remember that our spiritual disciplines are all for naught if our heart isn't in the right place.
--Phil
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