Praise and Prayer

The season of lent has brought me back to the blog. I decided to give up chocolate, social mediums on my phone, and I'm gonna shoot for no make up too, cept for special occasions. But mainly I have this idea to write out a list of 40 people I am thankful for, and each day pick one person to write a thank you note to them for how they have blessed my life! Although Lent is not a Biblical tradition, it is essentially fasting. And the Bible does have a lot to say about that! In particular the emphasis on fasting is to realize your dependance on the Lord, allowing you to focus more on His presence. Fasting is also a time to pray and praise God. In addition to my continual prayers and praise each day, my Lent idea is a clear way for me to praise God for 1 person that He has blessed my life with, and then send them a note of thankful praise! I will also commit to praying for that person throughout that day, hence the pray and praise.

Another thing I am going to try to give up (which will take some habit breaking) is responding to the question "how are you" with "good." I have always cringed at this dull routine way of checking in with someone. Asking someone how they are has lost its sense of genuineness. And aren't we all a bunch of liars more than half the time when responding to that question? I challenge myself to answer this question with the truth about how I actually am. My boyfriend and I had a conversation about this once, and I asked Him "what do you think Jesus would have said to the question 'how are you?' or how would He want us to respond to it?" And the answer seemed to just roll off his tongue: "forgivin' and livin." Despite your circumstances ain't that ALWAYS the truth? We are forgiven and called to forgive, and we have been given life and called to live! So if anything... when I'm hesitant to express how I really am, I'm going to try to respond with a simple "forgivin' and livin'," and a smile:)