God's Dream for me...

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.  For the last two weeks, most of my spiritually inclined and spiritually curious friends have been talking about what they are giving up, during these great forty days before Easter.  On that great Easter morning, more than anything, I hope that I will have developed a discipline during this sacred time that will have gotten me just a little closer to living into God’s dream for me. 

God’s dream for me...Let’s ponder that for a second.  Yesterday I blogged for the first time is what seemed like eons.  I blogged about LOVE.  Love should be the driving force behind our Lenten discipline.  Often times we forget that we are the beloved of God, and that God does have a dream for us.  Danielle LaPorte poses this question.  “Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?”

I have friends that are giving up everything during Lent from Facebook, Twitter, red meat, alcohol, caffeine and Lord knows whatever else.  I applaud them for that.  Maybe you have chosen to give up something during this season.  Ask yourself…Will this bring me any closer to God’s dream for me?  What we “give up” does not have to be tangible or a habit.  My friends from New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore urged their Instagram followers to give up one of the following during Lent; fear, worrying about the outcome and doubt.  I would like to think myself an overachiever and try to give up all three.  Won’t you join me in giving up self-loathe and insecurities, if for only forty days?  We are the beloved of God and he has a dream for us.  Let’s walk in it.

Faithfully,
Karr 

Lent & Love

Holy Cow!  It’s Lent again!  The time of year when people pick up on resolutions which they let slide in January, forego certain indulgences and increase spiritual disciplines to help prepare themselves for the celebration of Easter.  Over the last week, my social media feeds have been buzzing about Lent.  From clergy friends informing the twitterverse that they will be preaching on Ash Wednesday, to people declaring that they will be MIA on Facebook until Easter.  My personal favorite was my cousin’s Facebook post “I am giving up lent for Lent.”

We are called to observe a holy lent and contemplate where our heart and treasure lie.  Before we go sauntering off into our twenty-first century wilderness for forty days to get a little closer to Jesus, have we really thought about why we do what we do during Lent?  Sometimes we have a knee-jerk reaction and sometimes not. Just last night, someone asked me what this “Ash Wednesday and Lent thing is all about?”   My Ash Wednesday message to you today is that YOU ARE LOVED.  Lent sets the stage for this amazing love story of the cross that dates back long before we were born. 

I was in church Sunday and the priest said my message is simply this “You are loved.”  There on the tail end of Epiphany, I had an “epiphany”!  YOU ARE LOVED!  As we start this season of penitence, let’s do all that we do in love.  Whether you’re giving up chocolate, soft drinks, profanity or alcohol, let love be your motivation.  You are the beloved of God, and his change agents for peace and justice in the world.  I challenge you during this Lenten season to not only go deeper in faith, prayer and perseverance, but go deeper in love.  After all, love is the reason that we are all here today. 

Faithfully,
Karr