Wednesday, March 04, 2009

A New Twist on an Old Favorite

Some of you hypothetical readers may have guessed my intent by now. I plan to write a post on this blog every day for Lent, Sundays excluded. But you're supposed to give something up, right? Really, I'm giving up my excuses not to write.

Why this for the season leading up to Easter? Why not fast, as others do?

As I see it, the very idea of fasting for Lent is to honor Jesus' sacrifice by making a token sacrifice of our own. And the point of any religious observance should be to intentionally draw closer to God. Not only is writing daily a sacrifice of time and effort, but I believe it will help my relationship with God. It will take discipline, which I know he wants me to develop. Then there's the fact that I think I was built for it.

There's this idea deeply rooted in Christianity that each of us was created with a specific purpose in mind. I can't shake the feeling that writing is part of my purpose. I got a little chill as I wrote that last sentence. I really want to find out how I can serve God with what writing ability I have, whether it be explaining theology or merely piecing words together for the sake of beauty. Or telling fanciful stories that ring true. Definitely got a chill as I wrote that.

Some fiction. Some essays. Maybe a couple poems, and a couple life updates. The posts will be varied, and only a few will be about Easter. But Lent is the reason for the flood of content. Instead of giving something up this year, I'm taking something on.

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