Lenten balance

I am an all or nothing girl.  When I started exercising, about 16 years ago, I worked out twice a day, every single day without fail.  I knew if I made an excuse to skip a workout one day, then I would find an excuse to skip my workouts every day.   So I never skipped-- not when I was really tired or not feeling well or had a very busy day.  (I remember one time getting up at 3 a.m. to fit my workout in because I had an early flight to catch and had to be at the airport by 5 a.m.)  When it comes to eating sweets, or playing on the Internet I can go “cold turkey” and take a complete break for a while, but I am horrible about just cutting back.

So, when it comes to Lent, I usually jump right in with both feet, trying to overcome all my sinful ways and trying to sacrifice all that I can possibly do without in life.  I’ve found that Lent, like everything else in life, needs to be about balance though. 

It is a time to focus on growing closer to God and preparing my heart for Easter, not about becoming a superhero and battling every bit of evil in me and in the world.  If I overdo it with the sacrifices, my all or nothing tendencies come back and I usually end up in over my head- and then I give up entirely.

Yesterday, as I contemplated which of the possible sacrifices I would actually undertake, and which of the prayer commitments I would actually make, my list of what to choose from was long.   I had to remind myself not to try to do it all, lest I end up doing none of it very well.  In the end I was able to settle on a few (hopefully) very do-able things.  I will be participating in the KeepLove in Lent blog link up next week, so I will post more then about what exactly my family does to prepare ourselves for Easter……

For now, I wish you all a prayerful,  spiritually uplifting Lenten journey.