Hold fast

Two weeks in.

This is about the time it starts getting harder to keep up with our Lenten disciplines.

We start making excuses for why we shouldn't have to.

We spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about the thing we've given up.

We realize this might be harder than we thought.

If you're not at this point yet, maybe you need to reconsider your fast. Are you really pushing yourself? Are you at a point of having to acknowledge your dependence on Jesus? If not, then it's not working. Spend more time in prayer each day. Learn to listen...obedire, Latin for "listen" is also the root of our word obedience.

Be obedient. Repent. Turn away from sin and toward the Lord.

A wise person penned the following: "Repentance comes in stages:

The first is simple acknowledgement of something’s wrongness. That is why making an excuse for sin will always keep you locked within its grip. Remember that Adam blamed Eve for having broken the covenant. Eve, in turn, blamed the Serpent.

The second stage is displeasure at sin. This displeasure may be caused by selfish and unselfish reasons.

The third stage of repentance is the last and perfect one. Pain here is caused by having offended the one you love. This pain will purify you, and you will taste within it the joy and rest of everlasting life.

Do not despair over yourself or others. God has the power to cultivate any kind of repentance; His grace is always there with it, even in the smallest degree. "