The Journey: An Experiment in Solitude During Lent...

It's a good thing to try something new once in a while.  I'm not sure how to write about this thing because I've always felt funny when people, who give something up for Lent, announce it to the whole world.   But as I sit to write I realize that you are not the whole world.  You are the select few privy to these inner thoughts.  It's not about me, but inevitably when you write from your own perspective....it is.  I just need to wrestle with this.  

I'll let you in on how the journey has been going without a "sound track".  I "gave up" music during Lent.  I was interested to see if I would hear the Song without the music.  It's such a huge part of my "everyday".

Earlier this year I heard a speaker, Brett Ullman, speak on "Youth and Culture".  He encouraged parents to "practice" their faith and be visible about how we cultivate, nourish and nurture our personal relationship with God.  It's a relationship.  You have to invest in it, and you should let your kids see you pray, read your Bible and practice "quiet" time...the spiritual discipline of solitude.   If they don't see you engage in those activities, you're probably not really modelling those behaviours...that was food for my thoughts. 

On Ash Wednesday, I attended an ecumenical service during which the pastor explained the practice of fasting, (aka "giving something up for Lent").  The purpose of fasting is to focus on your relationship with God in the absence of this practice.

Music is a very big part of who I am.  I listen to music almost all the time and almost all of it CCM.  (...but not your momma's CCM...)  It encourages me daily in my walk with God and gives words to my worship.  It gives words to what my heart and my soul cannot express.   And so fasting from this practice would be a real departure.   An adventure.  A new way to walk.    I was eager to try this "new" thing not as a novelty but with a desire to grow.  

Walk with me.

I discovered a few things about my God, my song, my people and myself...