I’m not going to lie… Lent is one of my favorite seasons of the church year. There’s something about this somewhat “dark,” reflective time that provides a stunningly beautiful contrast to the joy of Easter. I love it.
But for some reason this year, I just haven’t been able to get “into” lent. As Ash Wednesday came and went, I was asked God to show me what I should give up, sacrifice, set aside for a time, so that I’d be able to better focus on Him… on His love, on His sacrifice. I don’t always give something up, but I do appreciate the reminder that giving something up provides to reflect and turn to Jesus… to be emptied and let HIM be all I need. This year though, I just couldn’t figure out what to give up. It was strange, but it was what it was.
Yesterday, though, I finally decided what I gave/am giving up for Lent this year… LENT itself! You see, the past few months of my life have kind of felt like Lent. They’ve been a little rough as God’s emptied me of some junk I’ve been carrying for entirely too long. There were some dark nights and definitely times of reflection. I was empty and broken, completely recognizing my need for Jesus’ sacrifice. But this was good! Just like Lent is a wonderful season of the church year, the past few months have been a wonderful, needed, beautiful season of my life. Went it comes down to it though, I’m ready for some Easter joy! It’s almost as if God’s saying, “Okay, it’s time to give up the sackcloth and the ashes, give up the sadness, and the pain… THOSE are the things you need to sacrifice to Me this Lent. Rejoice, Bekah! You have new life!”
So, there you have it.
I gave up Lent for Lent.
(Or I guess just celebrated it early this year).
And for those of you who are observing Lent right now, I apologize in advance for the next part of this post and simply ask you to cover your ears/eyes, because I can’t hold it in any longer….
ALLELUIA! HE IS RISEN!
HE IS RISEN INDEED!
JESUS IS ALIVE!
… and I don’t know if I’ve ever felt Him more alive in me.
joyfullyblessedblog.com 
I have thought the same thing this Lent. It actually kinda hit me on the first Sunday service when the worship leader said “it’s time when we bury our Alleluias. We’ll still praise Him, just in a slower, more subdued fashion.” I thought to myself why do we need to change the way we do things? Christ gave Himself up for us so that we could be FREE to worship and serve Him however we can. The feeling of “having” to give up something this year just didn’t hit me as hard as previous years; dunno why. Anyway, thanks for your post and I really appreciated the huge ALLELUIA at the end 🙂
Yea, I think it’s fine to change things up and hold back the Alleluias (as I said, I actually really like lent.) But yea, this year I guess I just observed it a little early. 🙂 Hope things are going well Brian! Blessings!!!