friday of the fourth week in lent

​Date:  April 1
Lectionary Link:  https://www.lectionarypage.net/WeekdaysOfLent/FridayFourthWeek.html
Contributor:  Kate Norlander
What are you giving up for Lent?
 
Has anyone ever asked you that question? Is it something you ponder every year? Maybe you habitually give up sweets. Maybe you prayerfully reflect on what you should give up, asking yourself, What is getting in the way of my relationship with God?
 
What are you giving up for Lent?
 
Maybe life feels too heavy right now, and you don’t have the energy to give something up. Many Christians embrace a new practice instead, such as pursuing a deeper prayer life. Taking on something new can be just as effective at drawing you nearer to God as giving something up.
 
What are you giving up for Lent?
 
Perhaps you feel guilty, because you’ve neither given something up nor begun a new practice this Lent. Somehow, time got away from you.
 
You could, if you feel drawn to it, start today. We have just over two weeks to go before Easter, but there is no special prize for people who give something up or take something on for six weeks instead of two. What matters is simply the desire to draw nearer to God.
 
Or perhaps it is time to just rest in God’s love, to remember that we don’t earn that love through what we give up or what we take on. God simply loves us. And as we learn to rest in God’s love, perhaps we will find ourselves growing in our love for God and for others—exactly what God wants most from us.