Sacrifice? Now? It's the Lenten season

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of the Lenten Season. In short, Lent is a 40 day period of sacrifice and prayer in preparation for the Easter holiday. The 40 days represents the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted. During Lent, we are encouraged to give up something that will be a sacrifice, a stretch, a challenge. Whatever sacrifice we make should ultimately improve our faith journey. Lent is also a time for us to engage in doing good works and serving others.

Well, I have had a difficult time trying to decide what I should give up for Lent. This process was made more difficult, in part, by this past Sunday's sermon at my church. The pastor told us that we should have progressed in our faith journey and not still be in the same place were were 5, 10, or even 2 years ago. He used an example stating that "If you gave up candy 5 years ago, then you shouldn't be giving up candy now. Your sacrifice should be greater than that." Ouch....

Well, I had really thought about giving up candy. It is a well known fact that I can eat a pack of Starburst in under two minutes. (no kidding!) Now, I must admit, I have given up candy for Lent, a few times. One year, I got really jazzy and gave up all sweets. (It was a long 40 days. really. long.) So now, I was stuck without my "no candy "option, what was I to do? Yesterday, I told friends on Twitter that I needed some divine inspiration. I wasn't kidding.

So, I spent some time thinking about all of the things I needed to work on and reflected upon a few recent conversations I had with some friends and family members. After that, I came up with these two points.

1. I am horrible about keeping in touch and contact with people. I let too much time go by. So, I am going to make a list of 40 people that I haven't talked to in a while and reach out to them. I want to see how they are doing and what's happening in their lives.

2. This was brought on by my mother. She hates the use of cell phones while driving and asked me last night to stop driving and talking. I promised her I would. That's gonna be just a teenie bit hard because I do a lot of talking and driving. So, I figured Lent was a good time to start. Just to let you all know how hard it will be, I called a local rock company while I was driving to work today. I have driven past their signs and yard rock display for months and always tell myself to call and inquire about custom work. Today, I called...It's only the second day of Lent....just pitiful!

I know that there is more I need to do, but this will get me started. I will write an update at the end of the season!

What are you giving up for Lent? How is it going?