SPIRITUAL RESET

The calendar has moved quickly to Lent. I am not sure of what your religious affiliation is but I do know that Lenten practices are a part of the Christian world. They certainly are for me and my family. 

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I gathered the children around the table to talk about the upcoming season of Lent. Of course, we were met with rolling eyes, long gazing stares and general disinterest. I mean, they are kids and really don't want to do ANYTHING that will make them feel uncomfortable. We, as adults don't always like that feeling either!
We were talking about what the kids thought they might give up for Lent. I always tell them it needs to be meaningful and hard in order to be a true sacrifice for Christ.  A couple of days before Lent we talked again and asked the kids if they had decided to which they seemed rather vague. 

I could tell this was not going to be a sacrificial lent based on those expressions! This is when we came up with a spiritual reset. Instead of giving up one thing in particular we are actually adding things to our day, virtuous things. We  are sitting down as a family, turning off the tv and reading a Lenten reflection. This may only last a few minutes but it really is a reset from the "business-at-usual" household. As Catholics, the Rosary is a very important prayer so we are committed to praying it on Fridays along with staying "unplugged". The " unplugged" thing we've been doing for awhile off and on since last lent. I like to put it in place when I can feel our family drifting off in too many different directions causing alot of misunderstandings and just needing its compass reset. The reset comes in when we distance ourselves from the ordinary and try to better ourselves for God. Not that we live in a way that is bad but it could be with more zeal for God. Perhaps, we've become too average in our faith. 

For our family this spiritual reset is so necessary to our souls. My husband and I know that we can become very complacent in our everyday prayer lives and going to church on Sunday, This  could be the same for our kids. This is a really nice way for us to stay connected in our faith. It's always good for the kids to see their parents practicing what they preach! I really loved my husband's explanation to our 12, 16 and 22 year old children to think of lent as a pilgrimage to God. What can we do to get closer? What can we stop doing to become closer? How can we serve God more? What would God want us to do with our money? Pilgrimage can be thought of as a break from everyday because it is out of the ordinary. Whenever we break from the ordinary there is some sort of a reset. Ordinary doesn't always mean good, sometimes we develop bad habits that we need to break to get to that next level in our quest for eternal life in God. 

My husband and I have also chosen to give up a couple of things we felt were not helping us become closer to God.  It was funny because we both failed on day ONE! We shared our struggles at the dinner table with our children. We encouraged each other to do better the next day. We can only hope and pray they saw us trying to become the best versions of ourselves as God created us to be. The rewards will be so AWESOME!!

I'll let you know how it's going. If you would like to share your lenten practices please post in the comments.

Prayerfully,
Darlene