Lent Archives - Daily Rebecca

Lent Update and St. Patty’s Day Decor

March 21, 2014

I’m about 2 weeks into my Lent fast and so far it hasn’t been very hard.

Womp womp.

I really thought it would be!

I’m a social media addict for Pete’s sake.

But I’m finding it to be wonderfully refreshing.

Not having the apps on my phone or iPad has been terrific in terms of keeping me accountable.

I totally think i’d sneak peeks otherwise.

I do kind of miss Instagram.

I really enjoy taking and sharing pictures on a daily basis, and I find that I’m not even taking many photos since starting the fast.

And then I think, “Why is that?”

Why am I not taking pictures just because I can’t post them on Instagram?

Am I that much of an attention whore that it’s not worth capturing the photo if I can’t share it and receive feedback?

Boy, that’s an ugly thought.

I’m not even sure that’s why, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility.

I’m terrible about printing pictures, so I think having them all in one place online (i.e. Instagram) makes me feel like they are in some kind of album.

And I’m such a goofball, I frequently stalk my own pictures on Instagram. LOL

But I digress…

My last few Lent seasons have been very challenging, so this feels unfamiliar.

I’m probably trying to recreate the awesome experience I had a few years ago when I participated in Lent for the first time in many years.

God really used that fast to speak to me and change my heart.

I am prone to want experiences more than I want God.

Just God.

Not the feelings or the emotions or the spiritual highs, just Him.

If there’s no hardship from the fast, is it “spiritual enough”?

If there’s great hardship from the fast, does it really draw me to Him?

Is He the real prize I’m chasing?

Living social media free has created space in my life.

But I’m still filling it.

With tv, blog reading, movie watching, organizing, purging, daydreaming.

Not with Him.

Oh how weak we are!

It’s a good thing that’s where He does his best work :)

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

My prayer for the remainder of the fast is to remain quiet in the free moments.

Quiet to hear Him.

Quiet to receive from Him.

I know that will be challenging even if the actual fast isn’t.

The Lent season isn’t over yet, but the St. Patty’s one is.

Before I take down all the decorations, I thought it would be fun to snap a few photo and share them here :)

I also wanted to pass along this great blog post about the real St. Patrick. It really touched me and gave me a different perspective on who he was and why his life is cause for celebration.

Stringing these inexpensive foam shamrocks on a ribbon was a fun way to jazz up the (dusty) living room mirror.

When Grace and I were at Hobby Lobby in Gaylord, I grabbed a cheap pack of sparkly shamrocks in varying sizes.

We had fun finding places around the house to tuck them.

Hoarding the chocolate coins from Grace’s stocking ended up being the right decision. Their wrappers make the perfect gold in our Pot ‘o gold craft :)

For dinner on Monday we had corned beef with cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. I’ve never made it before but it turned out great! You pretty much throw everything into a giant pot of water and boil the heck out of it. The potatoes were added in the last hour and I think I’ll add the cabbage then next time. I put it in with the beef in the beginning and it cooked so much that it was hard to gather it up from the water.

I’m so glad the meal turned out so well and I’m excited to make it again next year. I’m a sucker for traditions :)

Light as a Feather

March 12, 2014

On Monday I talked about giving up social media for Lent this year.

I went on and on about how hopelessly addicted I am to it and how it’s a time waster and a Bermuda Triangle of sorts.

Here I sit 3 days into this fast..

and I feel light as a feather.

Not twitchy at all.

Not anxious.

Just light.

Peaceful.

Present.

I’m actually enjoying the disconnection so much that I’m wondering if it was the right thing to give up after all!

I think it probably was, and I also think it’s too soon to know how hard it really might end up being.

I guess I just thought these early days would be the hardest….that I’d have to spend time breaking the habit of compulsively checking everything.

But so far it hasn’t been that way.

If I do randomly pick up my phone, I see an empty row where the various social media apps used to be and I immediately remember there’s nothing to check.

Instead of being grouchy about it, I kind of sigh in relief and set the phone back down.

It’s been lovely.

Honestly, I’m such a thrill-seeking, adrenaline junkie, harder-is-better, pain-is-good kind of gal that the lack of pain is bumming me out.

Ha!

File this under things that make me crazy :)

This sweet girl makes me a little crazy too.

Boy howdy is she a gift from the Lord to mold me more into the image of Christ!

I have to keep looking at it that way lest I become completely discouraged.

I love her so very much. It physically hurts sometimes.

She is such a delight and so much fun and sweet as pie!

She is also human.

And, as such, she is stubborn and dramatic and selfish and greedy and unkind sometimes too.

Those times have been really challenging lately.

I want so badly for her to understand the gospel and have God work in her little heart to bring about lasting change, yet I easily fall into behavior management mode.

Treating all the symptoms instead of the real issue.

Andy and I have both been struggling with how to handle the behavior outbreaks the past couple of weeks, so we started reading Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus again.

SUCH A GOOD BOOK.

More than giving us any formula to follow (which it isn’t even designed to do) it has been instrumental in causing our own hearts to be more open and receptive to the good news of the gospel!

Pointing us back to scripture over and over.

Pointing us back to Jesus over and over.

Pointing out how the well-behaved goody-two-shoes kids are just as much in need of a Savior as the trouble makers.

It’s not simply about behaving well.

It’s about our hearts.

Oh how I long for my girls to have hearts that love God and love others!

I want their kindness and love and generosity to flow out of hearts that love God and understand His love for them.

I don’t want them to live lives that look good on the outside but are self-righteous and prideful and hypocritical on the inside.

It’s so hard to keep the gospel and the state of their hearts at the forefront of my mind when Grace is throwing a fit or being mean to Avery or lying. I get so frustrated and angry that these things happen over and over and over again.

I just want her to STOP.

Interesting since my own sinfulness persists every.single.day.

Ugh.

I also say that I trust God with my children, but do I really?

Do I really trust that their salvation is up to Him? Do I really trust that He is writing their stories and will weave all of the good and the bad into His good purpose? Do I really believe that if I keep instructing them and pointing them back to Christ and loving them relentlessly, the rest is up to Him?

I must not.

Because if I did, I don’t think I’d get so seriously bent out of shape.

I don’t think I’d lose my temper as much. I don’t think I’d put such high expectations on my ability to parent them “just right”.

I think I’d walk in more peace and joy.

This whole parenting thing is so humbling.

I want to do a good job so badly.

SO BADLY.

I mean, look at that sweet face!

I want the best for her! I want to make sure everything happens exactly perfect every moment, and it’s a hard pill to swallow that I can’t and shouldn’t make that happen.

God knows every single step these sweet little feet will take. He knows where she’ll go wrong and He knows where she’ll go right.

He loves her even more than I do which is almost unfathomable.

His mercies are new every morning.

For Grace and for me.

We may see only snow and ice during the winter seasons we encounter in life. Only darkness and death sometimes.

But God brings new life.

Spring always comes.

Out of death comes life.

Jesus died so that we might have life and have it to the full.

Hallelujah!

Signing Off

March 10, 2014

That was the last picture I uploaded to my beloved Instagram.

It may sound lame, but I felt prompted to give up all social media for Lent this year.

In previous years I’ve given up food. You can read about that here and here and here.

Food has always been the thing that seems to cut the deepest and I certainly don’t think I’ve overcome all of my food-related crap, but God has graciously delivered me from a lot of the hold it had on me. I’m really grateful for that :)

The idea of giving up social media was more intimidating than I’d like to admit.

I’m an information junkie AND I suffer from FOMO.

Fear
Of
Missing
Out

So social media is kind of like my crack.

It’s unfortunate because so much of it is stupid, meaningless crap.

My friend Donna posted a funny status a while back saying something to the effect of, “I missed out on so much after not being on Facebook and Twitter for 5 hours, said no one ever!”

It’s true.

If I have a super busy day and I’m away from social media for a long stretch, I usually look forward to settling into the couch with my phone to furiously get “all caught up” only to discover that I really didn’t miss anything.

Yet I’m constantly tuned into what’s happening.

Checking my phone a gazillion times a day.

While I’m waiting for Grace to pee, while I’m brushing my teeth (that 2 minute timer on the Sonic Care is long, ok?!) and anytime I’m just sitting around.

It’s not good.

It’s noise in my life that is surely keeping me from seeing things around me. From hearing God’s whispers and from being fully engaged in my real life.

About a year ago I started taking a social media sabbath every Sunday.

It’s been good for my soul.

I start almost every Sunday a little twitchy.

Out of habit, I want to grab my phone right away, then I realize it’s my Sabbath.

Mid-day I usually feel a little better and more peaceful.

By evening my heart is quiet and I’m grateful for the time away from it all.

I read my Bible and other books more on Sundays. I am less selfish which is crazy to me, but I think I get irritable when I want to be engaging in social media and something in my real life interrupts me.

It’s embarrassing to even type this out.

To see how dependent I’ve become on all of it. How addicted even.

Another blogger mentioned something one time about the Bermuda Triangle of Social Media.

Scrolling through Facebook until she was fully updated, then moving over to Twitter to do the same and then Instagram. After getting “caught up” on Instagram, enough time had passed that there was new info on Facebook and the cycle begins again.

I’VE SO BEEN THERE.

And for what?

So I can immediately know what everyone has eaten for each meal and how they side politically and what soapboxes they shout from?

Is that honestly important?

More important than feeling God’s presence and hearing His whispers?

No.

A resounding no.

It’s my hope and prayer that this 40 days free of all social media will draw me closer to my Savior and will free me from this addiction.

I’d like to re-enter the world of social media with a new heart and a new perspecitve.

In the meantime, I’ve deleted all the apps from my phone as a safeguard against sneaking peeks.

Look at that empty bottom row.

It feels oddly refreshing to be disconnected.

Ask me again in a week and I may be singing a different tune about all this. Lol

Do you participate in Lent? If so, what did you decide to give up?

P.S. I have a couple of automated programs that Facebook and Tweet my blog posts, so you may see those over the next 40 days, but it’s not me cheating. Swearsies.

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