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Well, it's only Monday of the Second Week of Lent but I have to confess that my "giving up pledge" for these 40 days has already fallen apart.
Trying to be true to advice I gave earlier, I'm going to pick up the broken pieces and, with the Lord's help, start again.
If any of my readers are in the same boat - please join me in trusting that the Lord is as pleased with persistence as with perfection!
2009lentpostcollection
-ConcordPastor
"trusting that the Lord is as pleased with persistence as with perfection!"
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly the reminder I needed. Thank you!
I believe that it was Mother Teresa who said "God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try"...
ReplyDeleteI stumble and/or fail with my good intentions and pledges often and when I do I always think of this quote. I think perhaps I should have it tatooed on my arm!
I think sometimes we need to look at the reasons for our stumbles and failures...often times it is because we are wrapped up or drawn into situations that require our pastoral presence and/or attention. Attending to those leeaves us vulnerable... Sometimes we just are too centered on self...in either case it is a blessing to know that all we have to do is start over. God would certainly want us to be gentle with ourselves and move forward.
This is not exactly the topic, but Friday I realized hours after the fact that I had eaten meat on a Friday in Lent (a turkey sandwich.) I rarely eat lunch and I rarely eat meat, but was at a luncheon following the World Day of Prayer service and selected the turkey primarily because it was on a nice crusty roll. Never dawned on me...never crossed my mind. Why I finally thought of it I don't know. I did feel badly to think that I hadn't firmly fixed "no meat Fridays" into my mind despite the fact that I had written "no meat" on every Friday of Lent in my calendar book. I didn't view this as a matter of needing God to forgive me (I didn't do it on purpose!) but more a matter of needing to really focus Lent more fully into my life.
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