An Easter Discipline

As a child, I never observed 'Lent'. I don't understand what goes along with the practice, but I believe it is a discipline people follow to refrain from habits or actions for the days leading up to Easter. I used to walk with a neighbor who gave up 'sweets' before Easter. She said it really wasn't too hard because she didn't really have a 'sweet tooth.'

Stacy's posting got me thinking about Lent. These weeks leading up to Easter is probably a good time to focus specifically on my theme as far as application goes.

I find memorizing is hard for me. The point of memorizing is not to see how many verses I can memorize. The point is what happens to my mind in the process of reviewing and truly remembering each verse. I find my mind captures completely different thoughts when I am rehearsing verses than when I am 'thinking' the rest of my day.

There are only 13 days until Easter. I am going to accept Stacy's Easter challenge. I am going to feed my mind with HOPE until Easter. That is usually the mindset I have when I am memorizing, but then I go on with my daily thoughts and duties and get caught up in worries and 'what ifs' of the future.

I just finished reading, If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat, by John Ortberg. He writes about 2 laws that govern our lives:

The Law of Cognition: I am what I think about.
The Law of Exposure: My mind will think most about what it is most exposed to.

It's the second law that made me take up Stacy's challenge. I am going to expose my mind to scripture by memorizing it, but also keep it away from so many of my 'lazy' habits of TV, worthless movies, complaining conversations and even discouraging news reports. For 13 days I am going to 'feed' my mind very diligently with thoughts that are 'true, noble, right, pure,lovely, admirable, praiseworthy and excellent'!
Why does this pose such a challenge for me? Often because I am trying to do it by my own strength.

That's why I will celebrate Easter in 13 days. I will have 13 days to ponder why Christ died on the cross. I will realize that without His strength, I can do NOTHING...including bringing my 'thoughts into captivity'.

13 days until Easter. 13 days to prepare my heart and MIND.