This year, although I still made it to visit an early morning church service, I did not get to blog about my Lenten commitments, Ash Wednesday or any related subject.
Each year, I approach lent in the spirit of taking an opportunity to gauge how I am growing in my relationship with God, and specifically, I look at lent as a time to re-commit, re-set, and re-engage with God and identify areas for growth. According to church tradition, people typically take this time to either give up something or add something to their life with the intention of being able to better focus on their relationship with God.
In the past, I’ve taken what some would consider some pretty radical steps of fasting or engaging in the discipline of simplicity. In the past I have also added dimensions to my devotional life in order to better know and connect with the Creator of the universe.
This year, I decided to walk through a devotional book, that may be the best devotional book I have ever read or used. It’s called Developing Intimacy With God and it’s by a guy named Alex Aronis. In the past, I had noticed that Aronis suggests lent as a great time to engage in this eight week devotional, as the last week coincides well with a celebration during the week after Easter Sunday.
The book has a simple cover and title, but I love the way it encourages me to think about my walk with God differently. Rather than focusing on all of the things I might be able to do for God, Aronis’ book encourages me to focus my energies on spending time with Christ so I can learn to be like Him in my actions and attitudes.
The last few weeks have been incredible with regard to slowing down from the busyness of life to listen, abide, and cultivate my relationship with Christ. I really love taking time to be intentional about meditating on the words and life of Jesus and praying that as I develop this habit, that I might learn to better love both God and my fellow human beings more deeply.
It has been a wonder-filled journey thus far, and I look forward to continuing it, not only throughout the Lenten season, but for the rest of my life.
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