Lent and Everyday Life

It’s the second day of following the Fast, Pray, Give Busted Halo Lent Calendar and I’m loving the way it is connecting with my everyday life.

Yesterday focused on being aware of beauty in my everyday life.  I was to fast from rushing and take time to notice the beauty around me, I was to pray that God would show me something beautiful that I hadn’t noticed before.  My day wasn’t particularly busy so it wasn’t that hard for me not to rush but I did have to make a conscious effort to notice my surroundings and look for the present beauty.  What beauty did I notice?  A clear blue sky, a friend encouraging a coworker who had lost his job, two dogs playing together, a husband and wife sharing chores – she cooked and he cleaned up, horses grazing in a large field, and some amazing feats performed by some amazing athletes in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

For the giving part I was instructed to give some time to enjoy a piece of art or a nature scene.  I chose to give that time to some photos that a friend of mine took during our recent Tx. Snowpocalypse.  As I took time to enjoy her photos I prayed for her, thought about what is beautiful about her and gave thanks for her and what she had a hand in creating.

It was a good first day of Lent.

Here’s one of her photos:

For today, the second day of Lent, the calendar says to fast from self-pity and complaining, to pray for God to help in dealing with a difficult situation and offer a kind word to someone who lacks confidence.  Wow, that’s so practical! I love the way these entries are connecting with my everyday life!

It reminds me of Romans 12:1 from The Message:

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.