Lent.

Ash Wednesday.

Lent as I know is the forty days leading up to Easter Day. It starts on a Wednesday which is observed as Ash Wednesday. The purpose of Lent is to posture yourself in acts of prayer and repentance of sins as you acknowledge the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To posture yourself for prayer and repentance, many Christians fast for the forty days. This fasting is to be able to make more time to reflect on Jesus. Reflect on his suffering, sacrifice, his crucifixion and his resurrection.

I have personally never participated in Lent before. I have fasted for a few days here and there in the past for different reasons in the season of life I was in, but I have never sat aside time before Easter to really reflect on Jesus and all that he did for me.

This year my friend Sheila brought it up. I looked into Lent and read about what it truly meant. I am about to become a mom to a beautiful baby boy! I haven’t seen him yet, but every little one of his hiccups I feel inside me makes me picture how beautiful he already is and is going to be. My due date is in 56 days. I have this countdown in three different places in my house to remind me that the exciting time of meeting him is coming soon! When I was looking into Lent I saw that it is 40 days. This stirred in my heart a different countdown. Thousands of years ago Jesus’ countdown to his death was in 40 days! What would it be like to know you only have 40 days before one of your best friends that you walk life with every day betrays you and then you have to go through one of the slowest and most painful executions there is? I am counting down to an exciting day, that will have pain involved, but nothing like a crucifixion!

So with my personal countdown and the countdown to Easter (Lent) being so close in numbers I was really drawn to participate this year in setting extra time aside to acknowledge these last 40 days of my King’s life, and really thank him for the huge sacrifice he laid down for me.

I am doing Lent with three of my best friends, and my Husband is also going to do it. I committed to giving up social media before 6pm. That gives me all day to posture myself in prayer and repentance. To really listen and take in everything Jesus did for me thousands of years ago. And then after 6pm I can still post pictures of my pregnant belly for my friends and family to see.

I hope to really grow in this season of Lent. To really take in his heartbreaking story and gain thankfulness. I hope to write more about what I gain insight on during this time and share with you. I am really excited about this time!

Are you going to do Lent? It started today, but you can still be a part of it! What are you fasting? What do you hope to gain in this season leading up to Easter Sunday?

xoxo