Reflections on Lent

Since I've never made it through Lent doing something the whole time before, I'm not quite sure now, what comes next.

 I thought maybe it would be good to reflect on my experience. Here are a few of my observations from my writings throughout Lent:
  • It was really hard, at least at first, to not edit, fix, check grammar, or write a disclosure about my prayers. I wanted to clarify what I was thinking or justify my thoughts. Edit it to sound better or be more appropriate. But Rachel Hackenburg, the writer of the book I used, Writing to God, warns against this from the very start. I had to trust that these prayers were between God and me and even when I wasn't the most eloquent  he knew what I meant at the heart of the prayer.

  • Some days, the prompt prayer that was provided was simply...nice. Other days, I was either Too happy to be sad when that's what the prayer suggested or too melancholy and stressed to be happy... Then, there were the days when I was bursting with more and more excitement the more I read the poem, the scripture, and the challenge. Like my body was humming with the prayer before I could even write it down. It took all I had to go through the steps instead of just writing right away what was in my head.

  • Someone said to me that what I was doing took courage. That they could never post their private prayers online. Those private moments between you and God. And I completely understand that. It even says in the bible to not be showy with your prayers (I'm paraphrasing). But I think this was a good exercise for me because, even though I feel like I talk a lot, I think I barely every say anything. This was one way for me to say something. Passive aggressively, of course, as I do most things. ;-) Because, how many people actually read my blog anyway, really?

  • It's all fine and dandy when I'm at my desk during lunch break and have time to sneak in my daily devo, but when I was home on my first weekend of Lent, that was the real test. Thanks to my lovely housemate, though, I remembered to do it and I made it through, as I've previously mentioned, by only missing one day!

I really appreciated this exercise. It was good for me to have a routine and to keep up with it. I'm looking for what's next after Lent, but I'm happy this worked out!

 Hearts & Hugs,
Rachel

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