Really is it lent already?

Wow, lent really came out of nowhere this year, at least it did for me.  I mean, didn’t we just have Christmas?  And now it is time to give up something? My initial reaction is, ugh, groan, and sigh.  When I was growing up, this was like the worst time of the year, always having to give up sweets, oh sweets, why sweets and for 40 days, why so long…that’s like more than a month…how horrible.

Now I am finally starting to see the season of lent for what it is, an opportunity for us to get closer to God, an opportunity to turn away from things that are keeping us from being who we are truly meant to be.  Now are those HORRIBLE cookies going to make us a bad person or keep us from God?  No, of course not,

not by themselves, but if you can put God first and SACRIFICE those little cookies for 40 days (but not on Sundays of course), then maybe, just maybe we will be able to get a little closer to God.

It may sound cliche, but if we really think about what it was that Jesus did for us and what He went through to save us, then it makes these little sacrifices, like those cookies, seem pretty small and doable.  So as we progress through this lent this year, the challenge for us is to take a step back and get out of our comfort zone and make some sort of sacrifice that will draw us closer to God.  Hopefully we let God into our minds when we refrain from whatever it is we give up and in that it will bring God into our lives a little more than we allowed before giving up that cookie.