Source: Spiritualinspiration
I started my morning right yesterday. I went to mass with my mother to begin the Lenten season. If you didn't know already, I am Catholic. After mass I as I walked with/worked with the ash on my forehead I got a couple of peculiar looks and questions. Not to mention comments. One of my friends told me "you got something black on your forehead!" and some of my customers asked "I've seen a lot of people with that black cross on their forehead. What's going on?" Some of these were funny but there was one question that hit me hard. It was my manager when she asked
"Is that a happy thing?"
I honestly didn't know how to answer that. Lent is how you perceive it. A lot of people say Lent is sad or Lent is happy or some people are even indifferent about it. To me I see Lent to be happy.
Lent is about the preparation of Jesus showing his unconditional love for us.
There is no greater love than this: to lay one's life for another. (John 15:13).
Although dying may seem not a happy event it is not the entire idea of Lent. You see Jesus sacrificed Himself for us to show how much He loves us. He endured all our pain and suffering so that we won't have to go through any of that. This to me is the greatest love of all and where there is love, there is happiness.
He gave His life for us so we can come back to Him.
Not only do I see Lent to be happy through Jesus' sacrifice but the three R's.
Reflection, Repent and Renewal.
These three R's have been important to me in Lent.
Lent is a time for Reflection. Reflecting on myself. Reflecting if I'm happy, if I'm going where I want to be, if I'm treating everyone with the respect they need, if I'm living the life that God wants me to live. I started my first reflection yesterday and I pulled out emotions that I've been covering through smiles and laughter. I didn't know I was hiding how I truly felt about myself. I've been so self-absorbed with everyday life that I didn't think how I was doing spiritually.
As I reflected on myself I realize how dry my spirituality was. Sure I went to mass every Sunday and I prayed the rosary every night with my family. However I was still dry. I wasn't practicing my faith compared to four years ago where all I did was talk about God with my BLD friends and all of that. I realized how far I walked away from God and how badly I was hiding it. I'm not going to lie I have been "too busy" to take time out of my life to just say thank you to God. In this season of Lent I want to offer myself to Him again. I want to bring my sins at the foot of Jesus' cross.
At the end of Lent I'm hoping that I'm a new person. I'm hoping that my relationship with myself is renewed but not only myself but to the people I've hurt, to the people that I love.
To me I see Lent to be beautiful. Jesus shows us how much He loves us by allowing us to reflect on ourselves, to repent to Him and to be a new person for ourselves and for Him.
I know some of you guys aren't Catholic or not even religious. That's okay. You don't have to be religious in order to do these three R's.
These R's are pretty much an every day thing.
Reflect on yourself. Are you happy with who you are? Are you satisfied with your everyday life? Are you content with the relationships you have? Is there something you're missing? Is there a void that you tried to fill but couldn't?
Repent! Forgive yourself. You can't expect to receive forgiveness or give it out unless you forgiven yourself. How could one do it unless they have it?
Renewal. Be the new person you want to be. Be the person who you've been longing for. It doesn't have to be tomorrow to renew yourself. It doesn't have to be next week. It can be today. It can be now!
I know I'm looking forward to these (now) 39 days of Lent. I'm hoping by then I'll be able to immerse myself in God's love and to reflect on who I really am.
Thanks for taking your time to read this.
Rocking my Ash!(LOL)
Ciao for now~
