Lenten Season

Last night, we joined with Ebezener Church of the Nazarene, the Ashes to Fire bible study from Ash Wednesday through Pentecost. It was a great night of singing and explaining how we could participate in Lent. Although we have never been involved with a denomination that participated in Lent, I have always tried to "give something up". Well, Pastor Ben challenged us to subtract a negative and add something good in its place. As I was challenging myself to this, immediately I thought of Facebook. I'm not going to admit I am addicted, but in a recent devotion, it was made clear that "Anything that you desire more than Me becomes and idol." If I choose to sit down in front of my computer, before doing my devotions, then there is something wrong. But that is not my biggest struggle in life. It is my attitude towards my family. (Okay, so this could get long, because many thoughts are running through my head now).

I love my family, my husband, my kids, my parents and my siblings. And the reason I can love them, is because of 1 John 4:19. "We love because he first loved us." I can love my family unconditionally, because I love my God and he loves me.

The problem is, I tend to hurt those closest to me. So here is the funny thing, last night it was made clear to me that I need to subtract the negative behavior in my life. This is really hard for me. It's not that it is a struggle to be nice, I don't have a problem being nice (to others), but I am not always nice to my husband and my kids. So, when I went to do my devotion this morning, what verse was it tending to???  Of course, Galatians 5:22, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,"
And it does continue in verse 23, "gentleness and self-control."
I believe that with an understanding and attention to the first 7 "fruits", the gentleness and self-control will follow. So for now, I am going to spend the next 7 weeks, focusing on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness.

Side note: Because I am the mother of 4 children and with all the daily distractions, with running kids to and from school, laundry, dinners, sporting events, grocery shopping, etc. a mommy is bound to be moody sometimes....come on!!

Ok, so here I go...