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I love the Lenten Season!

I know, I have heard it all before. Devout Catholics dreading the day they give up their beloved chocolate or their cola drinks for the forty days of Lent just in time for Easter Morning to arrive bursting with chocolate bunnies to melt in the new Springtime sun.

I, however, have a different view of Lent, and I look forward to it every year as I do all of the different seasons of the year.

The Lenten Season is a time of introspection, a time to take a look inside. What can you do, as a Christian, for the next forty days to enrich your life (or others lives) and make you a stronger person more secure in your decision to be a Christian?

That's right! It is not giving up things you love that will make you a better Christian. Maybe you give up reading the morning paper and have morning prayer instead because you wanted to instill more time for prayer. Perhaps you give up driving around town and decide to walk instead to give yourself time for introspection and devotion. I knew of someone who gave up wearing make-up in order to give herself time in the morning for meditation and the focus on inner beauty and how Christ is important in her life. No make-up for forty days? That one would be hard, but it IS only forty days.

My children are given the opportunity to choose their own Lenten Promises. One child gave up complaining at the dinner table to eat and savor and try to enjoy what is placed in front of him. One child is trying to only say positive things. This is proving to be a challenge that I am helping her with whole-heartedly, but I am finding this a task that is even difficult for me as an adult to do all of the time.

I love this time of year as I find it is a wonderful time for devotion and personal glimpses inward to where you can make choices and changes for a short period of time, forty days is not forever. However, if you find that your life has changed for the better during this time period you have gained a wonderful gift that a simple change can bless your life even after Lenten Season is over! You never know until you try, Lenten Season gives you the chance to try. Imagine the riches to come year after year.

As for me, my Lenten promise this year was to not be so judgmental of MYSELF and others, and to give myself time before I make decisions by saying to others "I don't know, I will give you my answer in the morning". So far it is working out very well, I did not realize how judgmental I was, I am glad I am trying to stop, and I didn't know how easy it was to tell people "I need to wait and think about this before I make a decision I might regret". I am giving myself the gift of time and it is paying me back ten fold.

Happy Lenten Season!

Learn more about this author, Isis Kennedy.
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