{"id":135,"date":"2013-02-14T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-14T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oshetablogs.wordpress.com\/2013\/02\/14\/40-days-of-peace"},"modified":"2013-02-14T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-14T05:01:00","slug":"40-days-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/shalominthecity\/2013\/02\/40-days-of-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"40 Days of Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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Ohmygosh it\u2019s Lent already?!?! <\/span><\/div>\n
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I feel like I just tucked my kids in on Christmas Eve hoping for snow and rushing prep for the pancake scavenger hunt<\/a>.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re right upon Valentine\u2019s Day, my anniversary, and starting yet another Lenten Season.<\/span><\/div>\n
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And\u2026.until last night I didn\u2019t know what I wanted to fast to observe Lent. \u00a0I just knew I didn\u2019t want to do any type of food item fast because that\u2019s too loaded of a concept for me.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
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You see, I went through a season when fasting food took on something of a magical quality.\u00a0 No, fairy dust didn\u2019t gracefully fall around me every time my stomach growled (although, that would have been pretty cool or if I had a wand that I could wave to make my water taste like a sweetened passion tea lemonade\u2014yum).<\/span><\/div>\n

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Think less Harry Potter and more Draco Malfoy: Fasting became a tool to manipulate God.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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In my mind fasting food was a means to an end: the longer I fasted, the greater the temptation to eat, or the bigger the sacrifice (really?\u00a0 Y\u2019all are ordering pizza tonight? I guess I\u2019ll suffer for Jesus) the more God would be moved to grant my fasting \u201cwish\u201d, i.e.<\/span>\u00a0\u201cLord, save my friend\u201d, \u201cLord, bring me \u201cthe one\u201d, \u201cLord, please provide for my tuition bill\u201d.<\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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When I realized this, I decided to no longer fast food or food items until I stop using fasting as a way to trick God to move in my life to benefit me and began moving towards Christ as my Lord, Savior, and Friend; valuing the Giver more than the gift. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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I\u2019m better, but I\u2019m still not completely there\u2026old habits die hard.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Which made chosing my Lenten fast \u00a0complicated.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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I thought of media but\u2026um\u2026I sorta want to see how Downton Abbey ends this season. <\/span><\/div>\n
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I thought of Facebook, but\u2026.um\u2026I sorta want to know what my friends are doing to stay sane and happy moms next week during February vacation.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I thought of Starbucks, but\u2026um\u2026I sorta want to splurge weekly on a soy vanilla spice latte. \u00a0Plus, where would I meet and work on church planting stuff?<\/span><\/div>\n
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I know, excuses, excuses.\u00a0 But, in all honesty, none of these ideas sat right with me.\u00a0They all felt like me manipulating God, just with different mediums.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Then I read this awesome post by Margaret Feinberg:<\/span><\/div>\n
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http:\/\/margaretfeinberg.com\/the-wonder-of-lent\/<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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She poses this lovely idea for Lent:<\/span><\/div>\n

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But as I suggest in\u00a0<\/span>Wonderstruck<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>\u00a0maybe the question we need to ask as we enter Lent isn\u2019t, \u201cWhat are you giving up for Lent?\u201d as much as \u201cWhat do you want to lay hold of during Lent?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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So this Lent, I\u2019m really encouraged to think about my fast this Season not in terms of what I\u2019m giving up, but in terms of what I want to lay hold of.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Which, (spiritual bonus) relieves my guilt and removes the temptation to view my sacrifice as a manipulation tactic.<\/span><\/div>\n
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After asking myself the three questions she proposes in the post, I\u2019ve decided that these next forty days I\u2019m hoping to lay hold of peace\u00ad\u2014both internal and relational peace.\u00a0 <\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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I\u2019m going to use this resource<\/a> to keep me on track during<\/span><\/div>\n
Lent.\u00a0It actually started on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but hey, this is a shame free zone, here ladies!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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For the next forty days on this blog, I\u2019ll:<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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-finish the Third Way Womanhood series honing in on how to we can be reconciled, gracious and peaceful in the Biblical Womanhood Debate.<\/b>

<\/b><\/span>-post thoughts on radical non-violence, also known as the peace position.<\/b>

<\/b><\/span>-post on a few of these daily acts of peace http:\/\/www.40daysofpeace.org\/dailyactsofpeace<\/a><\/b>

<\/b><\/span>-explore the symbolism of the dove in the Bible as peace, reconciliation, and God\u2019s presence.<\/b>

<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2013<\/b>and finally, write about my plan to observe Good Friday by getting a tatoo (my first ever) of a dove on my wrist as an enduring reminder of how I laid hold of peace this Lent.<\/b><\/div>\n
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I\u2019ll tweet the daily peace messages<\/a>, verses of peace that are meaningful to me, and quotes from Sarah Young\u2019s \u00a040 Days with Jesus: Celebrating His Presence\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>with the hashtag <\/span>#40DaysofPeace<\/b><\/div>\n
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With a couple of exceptions: Tomorrow is Valentine\u2019s, the day of loooooove.<\/i>.so I\u2019ll be posting a fun entry about mixtapes, saccharine sweet love songs, and share with you a 2013 V-day playlist (with commentary of each song, of course).<\/span><\/div>\n
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Five Minute Fridays will stick with the word prompts and maybe on the 22nd<\/sup>, I\u2019ll post about how my husband used the most awkward Christian boy pick up line\u2026ever (!) then show off wedding pics, since that\u2019s our anniversary. \u00a0Yay for love :).<\/span><\/div>\n
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I\u2019m so thankful for Margaret\u2019s insights that\u2019s both freeing and life bringing. I hope it encourages you as you plan for Lent (again if you\u2019re just thinking about it no worries. \u00a0Shame. Free. Zone.)\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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Here\u2019s to forty days of growing closer to Jesus, our Prince of Peace.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Excited about Lent,<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Ohmygosh it\u2019s Lent already?!?! I feel like I just tucked my kids in on Christmas Eve hoping for snow and rushing prep for the pancake scavenger hunt.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re right upon Valentine\u2019s Day, my anniversary, and starting yet another Lenten Season. And\u2026.until last night I didn\u2019t know what I wanted to fast to observe Lent. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3037,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11,21,31,15],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-holidays","tag-jesus","tag-lent","tag-peace"],"yoast_head":"\n40 Days of Peace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ohmygosh it\u2019s Lent already?!?! 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