See You on April 8!

This morning while I was taking a shower before church, I started thinking about Lent. Which is kind of different for a born-and-raised Baptist girl like me, who never really learned about or practiced Lent growing up. Kyle, who grew up Presbyterian, was the one who really introduced me to the tradition of Lent when we were in college and encouraged me to start thinking about participating. As someone who still has a very small understanding of the Lenten season, I only want to partake in it if I know God is calling me to deal with a heart issue, and not because it's what everyone does this time of year.

Which leads me back to when I was in the shower this morning, where everyone has been inspired with a divine idea or two. ;)  I asked God if there was anything in my life that was serving as a distraction from Him, and He gave me an unmistakable answer: BLOGS. Yes, blogs. Exactly what I was afraid to hear, but exactly what I needed to hear. 

So for the next 42 days until Easter, Front Porch Sittin' will be taking a little vacay and I also won't be reading any other blogs. I know I am a little late since Ash Wednesday is the official start of Lent, but I think this is less of a matter of following man's rules and more of a matter of following God's. This will be an extremely hard thing for me to do, since my blog serves as a creative outlet for me and I love reading everyone else's blogs. But all the more praise be to God since He alone can get me through it!

So why give up something that I love and something that brings me so much joy? Can that really be a negative thing in my spiritual life? Well, the answer is yes and no. The minute that something becomes more important to me than Christ, it becomes a negative thing in my spiritual life. And to be honest, right now the first thing I read everyday is my Google Reader rather than the Bible. And that needs to change.

Also, in this past year and a half I've been blogging, I've been more susceptible to comparison than I ever have been in my life. I fall too easily into the trap of basing my worth on how many pageviews I get on a post, or how many comments I get, or how many followers I have. And while reading about other bloggers' lives can be a lot of fun, it also gives me an unrealistic view of what my life should be like and causes a spirit of ungratefulness to swell up in me. So that needs to change as well.

I have to tell you too, Kyle's first response when I told him what I was giving up for Lent was, "Crap, now I have to check all those couponing blogs!" Haha yep, knock yourself out sweetie! 

But don't worry, unless God calls me to, I am not giving up blogging forever! I will have plenty to write about once I'm back, since we have our 2nd Wedding Anniversary coming up in March and I have a few spring crafts up my sleeve. Stay tuned!

Like I said, this won't be easy, and there will be times when I am sooo tempted to just click over to Google Reader. But on the flip side I am actually excited about it too, and am hopeful that it will be a fruitful period of growth. I will miss all of you dearly,  and may whatever you chose to do this season of Lent make you fall more and more in love with our Savior!