The season of Lent began today as we gathered together at the Anchor Presbyterian Church for an Ash Wednesday worship service. It is always a powerful reminder of how we are a broken people living in a world that admires wholeness, while God longs for us to recognize of our brokenness and our dependence on the grace and mercy God has to offer.
Many people have a tradition of giving something up for the 40 days of Lent. The spiritual discipline of fasting has been practiced for millennia. The idea is that you find something in your life that you value, something that you use, eat, or do every single day. These are most likely the things in our lives that pull our attention away from God. By giving these things up, we refocus our attention on the one who deserves all we have to give.
My Facebook Newsfeed has been alerting me to all those things my friends will be living without for the next 40 days. For some it’s a particular food, for others coffee, and some signed off of social media for Lent. Among all these, there was one post that caught my eye and I immediately knew that this would be my spiritual practice for this Lenten season and possibly many to come.
Forty Days – Forth Items
Wednesday, February 10 is the first day of Lent. I have a challenge for you! Each day of Lent, remove one item from your closet that you no longer wear or need and put it into a trash bag. At the end of the forty days, donate these items to a place that can share them with someone who can really use them!
It is such a simple concept, but so powerful. We all could do with a little less stuff in our lives and there are many in our communities who need our excess desperately. So, for the next forty days I will be locating one item from my closet or around my home that will be given away. I plan on donating my items to Good Stuff Thrift, because this is what they have to say about their mission, vision, and motivation.
Our Mission - Good Stuff Thrift’s mission is to operate the most efficient Thrift Stores possible so that we can provide the highest level of funding for helping kids in need in our communities
Our Vision - That a lack of resources would no longer be an obstacle to giving a kid a “forever family” in our community.
Our Motivation - To obey the biblical mandate to help the widow, ORPHANS, aliens and the poor. (James 1:22)
As we enter into this Lenten season, I hope that our focus is once more on the one who came to save us. I pray that we set aside those things that stand in our way and ask forgiveness for those sins that separate us from God. Together let’s say, “Out with the old!” Because, “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
