Lent - 40 Days of Renewal, Celebration of True Freedom & Coffee?
Introduction
Shortly after posting yesterday about my need for taking a break of media, my fiancée who's always spying for my latest article, told me that it could be a great idea to do this "fast" as a Lent. Since I've been a Christian for about 17 months, I've never heard of that tradition before...which now I've delved into.
Needless to say, I've decided to expand my fast to encompass more than just my consumption of media and I will also be extending it for the entire Lent (40 days)
What is Lent and Why?
Lent, which comes from an ancient Anglo-Saxon word, “Lencten”, simply means “spring” is a symbolic representation of the forty-day period reflects the forty days and forty nights that Jesus spent in the wilderness after His baptism. It is in these forty days that he wrestled with the temptation to be what the world wanted Him to be, or to yield only to the Spirit of God.
Paradoxically, it is a Celebration of Freedom
Since I became Christian, I discovered that freedom can mean something completely different. In the world, freedom is defined often as the ability to "do what i want, when I want, however I want". But the new definition that I've discovered is that freedom can be the ability NOT to act on our animal instincts(living in Adam's sin) but to act according to a higher order of virtue (living in accordance to the Spirit).
The ability to chose beyond what would satisfy our desires right here right now is difficult. Voluntarily saying NO to something that we are addicted to is an act of true freedom.
So What Will I Be Lenting On?
Media was a good start and I've found some really cool apps to help me stay clear from Youtube and other sites. But yesterday, as I was talking to my fiancée, I realized that the substance I am most addicted to is...coffee. I'm not free to say No to coffee in the morning.
So starting March 1, coffee will be canceled from my daily diet as well as all the media that is not related to work. (I've already started on the media thing)
Conclusion
I'm excited to cut coffee for 40 days. I'm a serious coffee drinker and sacrificing it for a little while is a challenge that I'm looking forward to.
Anybody else doing Lent?
Good for you. 😀 Have a great day.... Though if you have been a regular coffee drinker your going to have withdraws.... Mostly Moodiness and a hard time concentrating... A bottle of caffeine pills may be your best friend...
Make the most of it
DynamicPimp
Thanks! This week I will be tapering down, keeping it down to only 1 coffee in the morning.
Whether one is religious or not, I think fasting and making sacrifices by giving certain things up for a while can be a really healthy practice.
amen ;-)
Darkest visions
And obedient slaves
Following orders
Calling themselves free
Awkward words
Illogical concept
Nineteen Eighty Four malady
Enslaved to a lie.
sorry to hear that you have difficulty with the concept.
Redefine freedom?
Clever pity
To manipulate minds
Redefine freedom to mean "obey the cult".
Brain deluded
By charismatic clever words
Illogical concept conveniently identified
But ignored by the brainwashed
I tell you the truth
But you don't believe
I doubt you can prove your side
Not now
Not ever.
are you okay? You seem very angry. Are you interested in a dialogue?
Arguments or dialog are less effective than sheer proof
let reality speak to me, I've no time for your words
Do you really think I'm so naive as to not ever had a debate before?
We all know how it ends.
Let's just simplify things:
If you're right, show me.
If you're wrong, continue to show me nothing but platitudes and empty words.
I can sense that you are very angry, I don't know what happened to you in the past but I hope you can come to term with it one day. I'm making a point of not debating people who are emotional...come back once you've calmed down and open to have a dialogue with an open mind.
I'm not angry.
Like, at all. I was actually singing a song to myself as I wrote this.
It was meant to be poetic, right? So don't take it the wrong way.
Think of my words as lyrics to a song.
It's very beautiful post!!
I like your work,, Thank you for sharing...
I follow now and Up....