Giving it Up

This past Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent.

Giving up something which has a negative controlling influence in our life, during the entire 40-day Lent season is a practice which i will seriously embark on this year.

On Ash Wednesday, i read a blogger's resolve in giving up using the apps in his phone for Lent. i decided there and then to reduce my time hooked up in the online world. Why not give it up totally? Why not give up something else like worry/anxiety/anger? you may ask :)

Er well, the idea came to my mind so i supposed it's some prompting lah :) And also i'm not giving it up totally because using email and FB and reading blogs and websites, is not my problem per se. The problem is when i do it mindlessly, letting the precious minutes and hours slip by, like reading one blog after another. Another problem of mine i think, is the need to be in the "know" as in, what is happening in the lives of my FB friends or the latest political news etc.

Just as the idea of reducing my online time came to me easily, the specifics did too. i am not going to post it here but trust me, it is drastic for me :) And what would i do with the time freed up? i will read and write more. Reading as in physical books. i am reading regularly prior to this, but i take longer to finish a book because i spend more time online! i have a personal writing project which i need to see to. (Maybe tell you at the next post if i remember). i have embarked on a 3 month daily reading of the New Testament before Lent, so i will continue with that instead of reading Lent passages and i will pray a Lent prayer everyday. And to make myself more accountable, i have emailed my specific intentions to my good friend, whom i know will encourage and pray for me.

The temptation came fast - the end of the first day - when the significant other came home with a new phone for me. Oh well, i just need to re-focus. But today at Church, the Lord's Supper reading was that of Jesus' 40 day fast after his baptism and the testing by the devil. There and then, it encouraged me a lot and i know the Lord will walk with me this 40 days :)

i am sure there are many lessons that God wants me to learn by giving up this aspect of my life and i pray that my heart is willing to learn them.