Beginning of Lent

Ah, Wednesday! I hope all of you are doing well and that all of you are having a wonderful week. Today marks the beginning of Lent and whether you are Catholic or not, I always found the Lenten season to be a good time to practice self-restraint and humility. In preparation for this year's Easter celebration, I have decided to give up and take on the following over the next 40 days:


Lent 2011: Honoring Christ Through My Actions

• No chocolate (in any shape or form).
• Start and end my days in prayer.
• Go running at least 4 times/week.
• Blog 40 days of blessings, big or small.

No Chocolate: This is huge for me, especially considering I have newly opened Oreos in my fridge, two tubs of chocolate ice cream in the freezer, chocolate pudding snacks for lunch, trail mix with M&M's in the kitchen and leftover Valentine's Day candy sitting on my desk. I love chocolate, to say the least, and manage to sneak it into my diet everyday. This will be a challenge but worth it in the end. 

Steadfast Prayer: Sometimes I find myself so caught up in my own agenda that I start and end my day without prayer. I can tell when I have managed to skip the most important step in my routine, because I begin to feel stressed and things start to fall out of place. In being such a demanding time of my graduate program, it is especially important to dive into steadfast prayer; not for my successes, but for the successes of my patients. My prayer focus during this Lenten season will be on continually welcoming Christ into my heart and allowing Him to work through me so that I may help others recover from injury and disease. I want to be a vessel for His good works, His love and His mercy. I pray that He would send me courage, strength and a healing smile to help those I meet during my rotations and provide me with the means to seek out continual growth in my faith and in my profession. 

Running: What better way to glorify God than by running! He has blessed me with such great health! No more excuses. Rain or shine, I am running for Him and for my wonderful patients!

Blogging 40 days of blessings: I will be sharing my 40 days of blessings here, through my music blog, starting this evening. Every evening, for the next 40 days, I will post a single blessing in my life along with a song that better showcases its deeper meaning. In sharing my life's little blessings, I hope to inspire you to look around and ask yourself how Christ has blessed you. I look forward to sharing my Lenten season with you in this special, musical way. Wishing you all a happy and humbling Lent!