Lent 2014 "40 Things"

Happy Ash Wednesday!  Happy 40 days of Lent to you all!

When I was trying to decide upon a good practice this Lent, I had wonderful intentions.  I will feed the hungry and clothe the naked.  I made lists and lists of great ideas. I will give up everything but rice, and pray constantly, and wear sackcloth, and ashes.

Well, I will be wearing ashes, but I realized I might be getting carried away.  I started to make a list of 40 things I would do this Lent to get closer to God.  This opened up the question, "40 things per day, or over the whole time?" So I started on lists of  40 things for each week.  Whew. I got so busy thinking of things, that I was exhausted before I even started to DO any of the items on the lists.  I came up with this list of 40 possibilities if you are looking for a list of "40 things" you can do to get closer to God this year. I made the list, you fill in YOUR 40.  

1.  Do 40 kind things for strangers.
2.  Do 40 prayerful things.
3.  Do 40 hard things.
4.  Do 40 physical exercises.
5.  Do 40 Spiritual exercises.
6.  Pray for 40 specific people.
7.  Forgive 40 things.
8.  Be purposely thankful for 40 things.
9.  Give 40 things away.
10.  Let 40 things die. (Preferably not pets.)
11.  Find 40 miraculous things around you.
12.  Write 40 letters.
13.  Write 40 prayers.
14.  Rejoice over 40 things.
15.  Learn about 40 saints.
16.  Pray 40 Our Fathers.
17.  Pray with 40 seperate people.
18.  Call 40 people to say hello.
19.  Pray for 40 special intentions.
20.  Give up 40 meals.
21.  Limit your spending to $40 per week. Track every dollar.
22.  Confess 40 sins. (Dig deep.)
23.  Encourage 40 friends in their Lenten practices.
24.  Pray for 40 priests. (Lists can be found on diocesan websites.)
25.  Pray for 40 religious sisters and/or brothers.
26.  Pray for 40 orphans.
27.  Donate to 40 causes you care about.
28.  Help 40 kids learn to read.
29.  Pray for 40 families who have a loved one in the obituaries.
30.  Thank God 40 times that you are not in the obituaries.
31.  Give up 40 TV episodes.
32.  Limit yourself to 40 texts a day.
33.  Limit yourself to 40 "selfies" for the entire season of Lent!
34.  Give up 40 beverages, and donate the money to charity.
35.  Do 40 chores for someone else.
36.  Share 40 scripture verses.
37.  Listen to 40 stories told by older people.  (Even if it's the same story over and over.)
38.  Spend 40 minutes per day in prayer.
39.  Spend 40 minutes per day in silence, listening to God do the talking.
40.  Love 40 people better.    

I heard some guy on a radio show saying that your lenten sacrifice should be a foreshadowing of death.  The more I looked over my substantial list of stuff I needed to do, I was quite certain I didn't have time for death, since I was WAY too busy getting closer to God, which is exactly the purpose of Lent. It hit me like a ton of bricks.

I AM SO BUSY GETTING CLOSER TO GOD THAT I DON'T HAVE TIME TO BE WITH GOD.

I remembered how I felt when I was on the floor without a pulse.  There was nothing there but me and God, and our love.  I wasn't DOING anything.  I wasn't planning, or donating, or writing.  I just...was.  And what I was is LOVED.

THAT's what I hope to get to this Lent.  My list is a barrier that I have created between myself and God.  I will remove this barrier piece by piece, number by number until once again there is only me and God and our Love.

Easter will rock!

Good luck removing your barriers, whatever they may be.