“Lent is a time for discipline, for confession, for honesty, not because God is mean or fault-finding or finger-pointing but because he wants us to know the joy of being cleaned out, ready for all the good things he now has in store.” ~
There are many who believe that attitude is everything. There certainly seems to be a lot of truth to that. Our attitude directs our actions in many ways. Coaches want people who have a winning attitude on their team. If someone “just likes to play”, that someone will not be chosen for a team. They don’t want people who like to play. That want people who want to win.
Doctors want positive attitudes in their patients. Surgeons, especially, want a positive attitude in someone who is preparing for surgery. I have known surgeons who have postponed surgeries when they heard that their patient was telling others that he or she was going to die on the operating table. There is, after all, such a thing as a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The attitude we bring into Lent will determine what we get out of the season. If we look at the things that we have chosen to do merely as obligations, our hearts will not be into them. We might accomplish our resolutions; but, a halfhearted accomplishment does not do us a whole lot of good. There is a huge difference between doing something because it is an obligation and doing something out of great desire.
Why do you want to get closer to God? Is it because it is an obligation? Or, do you have a real desire to do so? If you have a desire, than your resolutions should be deep and rigorous. They should be things that you can accomplish; but, they should not be things that you can do with ease. Part of the difficulty of a resolution, in and of itself, is a piece of Lenten sacrifice.
Do what you need to do to be cleansed within so that you may reflect more of God and less of yourself.
FAITH ACTION: Delve deeper into the things that you need to change within yourself and make plans to root out all that keeps you from a closer relationship with the Lord.