Denial of Self

I am always inspired by people who observe Lent. It used to be viewed as only the "super religious" people took part in a ritualistic period of time before Easter, who abstained from something.
Today, I feel as though it is widely participated in by a christian community in general. People have there own reasons, but I loved how our church is choosing to view and participate in it. Kind of like a..... "why not" mentality.

Simply, Jesus was in the desert for 40 days before his crucifixion on Good Friday. That is the whole premises. Different churches and religions will choose to do lent in different ways. Ours is simply going to choose to deny yourself of something for 40 days.
As Americans we have so much and most of us never have to live without anything. We are so used to having MORE than we need, all the time. To toughen us up and learn to deny yourself of any "luxury" we get so used to, what happens when you take it away? When you tell yourself no? And the big question is, can you tell yourself no?
We use so many things to medicate our mental state..... tv, internet, blogs, books, fashion, our home, car, ect.... It is easy to get wrapped up in things that dont matter. What happens when you miss your favorite show? Or how much time do you spend putting together an outfit?

Who cares? Really. What does it matter? I think denying yourself of something you retreat to is a HUGE open door to let Christ and and WAM! Watch him show up.

I pray you individually or as a family would decide to participate in Lent, not to be a weirdo, but to deny yourself.
Ours our simple. And really shallow. Tim is giving up television for 40 days and I deactivated my Facebook account.

We can spend some evenings with him in front of the tv and me on the computer. Again, its not a huge sacrifice for us, but something we feel like we would like to can for 40 days. And no offense, but its a huge waste of time. Who knows what great benefits will come from it, that's what we'd like to see!

Happy Lent!
Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1Tim 6:12