Spring Cleaning

I grew up in the United Methodist Church and although my personal beliefs are not in strict adherence with them any longer, I am still drawn back to the Church's teachings at certain times of the year. Lent is one of those times. What with all the talk of who's going to which fish fry on Friday nights and who gave up chocolate or diet coke, it's kind of hard to miss it! It is a good thing to step back and take a close look at ourselves at least once a year. Although in the traditional sense, early Christians were using this period as a time of purification and preparation for baptism on Easter, a bit of Spring cleaning is always welcome regardless of your status on faith. Some folks focus on this 40 plus day stretch as a time for deprivation, but we should rather look at it as a time to practice self control. Rather than just taking things away, we can also add things which would bolster us on our journey here on Earth. I found a good link about making commitments to discipline and growth during lent from the UMC. From the prompts found there, I came up with a list of things to work on through Easter and beyond: *Take control of my life by going complaint free *Take one hour to inventory my priorities and how I plan to reorder them *Focus on thanksgiving rather than on asking in prayer *Give myself a gift of time to do something I always say I don't have time for: blogging every day *Take on a loving task: act as the Personnel Advisor for a local collegiate chapter of my sorority *Write a letter of affirmation once a week to a person who has touched my life *Focus on good, healthful habits of eating and exercise

I'll keep you posted on my progress! Is a good 'Spring cleaning' on your list?