Lent
In a month in the Christian faiths we start the season of Lent. It is a shame but all Christians even ministers loose sight of why we became Christians. Centuries ago the leaders of the Christians realized this and instituted the Lenten Season. This is a period of forty days before Easter that we are to:
Fast
Pray
Meditate
By doing these we bring ourselves back to the reality of why we became a Christian.
Fasting: We have gone from fasting in the manor they did in our Lords time and now it is acceptable to fast by giving up something that truly love and think we can not live without and not eat it or do that one thing you feel you have to do. If you feel this is to hard to do just remember what our Lord gave up for 33 years in order to save us.
Pray: The Bible tells us we are to pray all day. So many of us forget or think we're to busy to stop and take time to pray. During this time we need to get back to praying each and every day, all day. We seem to think that we have to pray some long detailed prayer to be praying but in reality it can be as short as Jesus I love you or Jesus I need you. Now the praying that should be being done during this time is the long in detail prayer in the time we are at home when we're sitting watching TV all night we need to cut time out for an hour or two to spend talking to the Lord for something other than asking Him for something we think we need and are so impatient we want it now and not when the Lord thinks its the best time. This time of prayer is to be spent asking the Lord for forgiveness of are failings and faults of today. The time for saying thank You for dieing for my sins to save me from those sins. A time to ask the Lord to help us find our way through life doing what He wants us to do and then helping us to succeed at getting it done.
To meditate on His pain and suffering that He went through for our sins. None of us has ever been beaten the way He was, one of us has ever had a crown of thorns driven into our heads not walk a long distance carrying a large heave cross that they where going to hang us from because they where afraid of us. We need to take time to think about these things an try to think if we where in His shoes could we have done that. The old saying until you walked in there shoes is very true here. I myself don't think any of us could and that includes me. We think we are big and brave but in a situation like this I think we would fail miserably at it. There are those who would say but He was God so therefore it was nothing for Him to do it but in reality when on earth He was as human as you and I are and suffered pain as we do. He had the will and the mental strength to get through it because He knew if He didn't we'd all be lost to Satan. So He did what we should do, is put our heart and mind to do what the Lord requires of us to show thanks not only in words but in actions as well. So you see what we seem able to do for Forty days before Easter we need to be doing 24/7 365 days a year. Really how hard is it to do if we put our minds to the task.
In the Roman Catholic church the priest are required to put aside time twice during the day to do the praying and meditate as above. I is very realistic to say we can if we put our faith, heart and minds to the task.