I have a confession to make.... I LOVE LENT! Seriously, ever since I started doing it, back in high school, my testimony of it has only grown. It wasn't until I got to BYU that people said "But Corrine, you aren't Catholic"..... Well, I didn't know I had to be Catholic to find a reason to be closer to God. My bad.
See... that is what I love about Lent. The purpose of it-- to honor Jesus Christ. In similitude of Christ fasting for 40 days, Catholics started the tradition of giving something up for the 40 days before Easter. Over the years I've given up TV to laziness to chocolate. Man, that last one was a toughie.
Ever since I realized Lent started crazy early this year, I've been thinking about what to do. I wanted to be prepared; really give this the deep thought such a tradition deserves. The idea came to me-- give up "mediocrity". I pushed it aside because, how do you measure that? I mean, it's a good idea because someone once told me that the problem with my generation is that we are okay with being mediocre. (I'm sure the same could be said for every generation). But that idea-- MEDIOCRITY-- kept coming back.
I kept seeing all these inspirational quotes like:
So I did what any human being would do-- fall into a funk because I felt like the universe was telling me I am mediocre. :) Seriously though, all these "signs" seemed to be telling me that I'm being mediocre right now and something needs to be done about it.
I'm not mediocre because I make mistakes, just in the same way that what makes me extraordinary is not not making mistakes. I'm mediocre because I'm not living up to my potential. What is my potential? Well, I'm not entirely sure but I know it's big because I am royalty. I'm a daughter of God ....You see, it's GOD who makes me extraordinary. It's his influence, his belief in me, his Holy Spirit that inspires me to achieve great things; and it is his grace and strength that helps me do them.
So.... I AM going to be giving up mediocrity for Lent. And I'm going to do that by giving up for 40 days, those things which are taking my time away from God. (Admitting of course that I'm the weak one who can't help but be distracted by such things). So, what does that mean? That means no movies/TV (with one exception), no Facebook (minus once a week where I can answer messages since its the only way I have to communicate with some very important people in my life), and no internet. Goodbye Buzzfeed, goodbye Pinterest for 40 days. This doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to turn into a monk and only read my scriptures but let's just say I'll have a lot more time on my hands for service, for reading great literature, for mediation, for exercise... all those things which feed my soul and make me feel closer to God.
Lent 2013.... let's do this.
See... that is what I love about Lent. The purpose of it-- to honor Jesus Christ. In similitude of Christ fasting for 40 days, Catholics started the tradition of giving something up for the 40 days before Easter. Over the years I've given up TV to laziness to chocolate. Man, that last one was a toughie.
Ever since I realized Lent started crazy early this year, I've been thinking about what to do. I wanted to be prepared; really give this the deep thought such a tradition deserves. The idea came to me-- give up "mediocrity". I pushed it aside because, how do you measure that? I mean, it's a good idea because someone once told me that the problem with my generation is that we are okay with being mediocre. (I'm sure the same could be said for every generation). But that idea-- MEDIOCRITY-- kept coming back.
I kept seeing all these inspirational quotes like:
So I did what any human being would do-- fall into a funk because I felt like the universe was telling me I am mediocre. :) Seriously though, all these "signs" seemed to be telling me that I'm being mediocre right now and something needs to be done about it.
I'm not mediocre because I make mistakes, just in the same way that what makes me extraordinary is not not making mistakes. I'm mediocre because I'm not living up to my potential. What is my potential? Well, I'm not entirely sure but I know it's big because I am royalty. I'm a daughter of God ....You see, it's GOD who makes me extraordinary. It's his influence, his belief in me, his Holy Spirit that inspires me to achieve great things; and it is his grace and strength that helps me do them.
So.... I AM going to be giving up mediocrity for Lent. And I'm going to do that by giving up for 40 days, those things which are taking my time away from God. (Admitting of course that I'm the weak one who can't help but be distracted by such things). So, what does that mean? That means no movies/TV (with one exception), no Facebook (minus once a week where I can answer messages since its the only way I have to communicate with some very important people in my life), and no internet. Goodbye Buzzfeed, goodbye Pinterest for 40 days. This doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to turn into a monk and only read my scriptures but let's just say I'll have a lot more time on my hands for service, for reading great literature, for mediation, for exercise... all those things which feed my soul and make me feel closer to God.
Lent 2013.... let's do this.
