Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Lent

Why does forty days seem like such a long time?

This Lent we are trying to improve our friendship with God. We are hoping to incorporate more prayer in to our daily family life. There has been an emphasis this year that Lent is just not about sacrifice, but about prayer and almsgiving. The priest at mass today talked about giving up something that permits giving in return. My younger son is making his bed every day. My thought is to incorporate some sort of prayer with that as he makes his bed or after he makes his bed. I am not one to really talk about what I am giving up. It will be a challenge for me as Merritt is my maiden name. But, I hope to rise to the challenge and give something -or many things -in return. My husband decided on a tough one too this year. He has incredible will power. I think the sacrifice will bring him closer to God. We are going to try to not be too grumpy. I keep telling myself that 40 days is not that long and we know we will be better off when Easter hits!

1 comment:

Bethany said...

I have to tell you this: Nathaniel decided to give up electronics for Lent and actually started last Sunday (early). Well, last night after Mass, he asked me how long Lent was. "40 days" I said. He decided to go for the rest of the week and then pick something new!! A whole week is like a year in kids' terms!! I just told him that he can fast from different things all the way through Lent. We are focusing on prayer and almsgiving more too this year. Making room for God was our big emphasis in our 4th grade religious ed class...we'll see how this week went!! ;)