Taking Up During Lent
Some ideas on what to take up:
- Pray for your enemies each day
- Keep a gratitude journal - write down things each day for which you are thankful
- Read & reflect on something from Scripture each day: maybe from one of the Gospels? Maybe a Psalm? Maybe from reading the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) over and over?
- Daily use an online devotional (www.d365.org) or prayer guide (www.commonprayer.net or www.sacredspace.ie/daily-prayer )
- Write a note of thanks to a different person every day - family, friends, fellow church members, neighbors, people from your past, public figures, community servants & workers
- Each week, seek to have a significant conversation with someone very different from you - in religion, race, orientation, politics, economic status, ethnicity, etc. Ask questions; focus on listening instead of talking, explaining, or defending your own views or perspectives; what do you have to learn?
- Invite someone to a meal with you at least once a week
- Give a genuine compliment to someone each day - take time to appreciate even the small things in others
- Go for a walk daily if possible - pray for people, houses, businesses, etc. you see and any needs that come to mind
- Reach out to someone who might be lonely at least 3 times a week with a visit or a phone call
- Saying "I'm sorry" - who needs an apology from you? How can you work to mend a broken relationship or heal a relationship
Giving Up During Lent
- Complaining - seek to improve all complaining for your talk
- Social Media - give up Facebook, Twitter, etc. - be intentional in doing something with the extra time and attention you have
- A grudge - pray daily about something you're struggling to let go; consider if there is a difficult but necessary conversation you need to have or an apology you need to give
- Noise - avoid turning on the radio in your car or anything around the house as background noise; use the silence to pray or think or notice things or have a conversation
- Find something in your house each day to give away (and don't let it all be stuff you won't miss)
- The need to have the last word
- Extra purchases - buy only necessities (and if you have to question if something is really a necessity, it's likely not) - donate the extra money you would have spent
- Skip a meal once a week or eat simpler meals on a designated day - give the money you would have spent to those helping address local or world hunger