Holy Week

It's Holy Week, friends! This year, it's been an interesting Lenten ride for sure.

Last year, a wonderful, amazing, beautiful friend (yes, Kelsey, it's you) sent me this calendar to help with making Lent more meaningful. So this year, I decided to pick it up again, but 2013 style. (here's the link: http://bustedhalo.com/features/fast-pray-give-2013)

My favorite reflection so far was the one for February 25th. The quote by Danial Day Lewis is great, but the reflection hits me the most. His quote: "I like things that make you grit your teeth. I like tucking my chin in and sort of leading into the storm." — Daniel Day-Lewis

The reflection:
FAST from making excuses for not getting a difficult task done.
PRAY for the courage to lean into an uncomfortable situation.
GIVE your support today to someone who is in a tough leadership position.

I think this one speaks to me because it's the skill I have always lacked the most. I always pray for God to speak through me and to help me speak the words He wants me to say; but I never specifically say, "hey look, big Guy, I need help with standing up for myself. I need help leaning into the storm."

Yet, during this Lenten season, I feel like so many little storms have popped up and I've had no choice but to lean into them. Sure, I tried to reroute and avoid the storms completely, but bottling them up or pushing them aside put me even deeper into a mess. When I think of nestling up to the difficult and ugly things in life (like standing up for myself against bullies, supervisors and acquaintances) I am scared straight.

About two weeks ago I had to stand up for myself and the mere thought of talking to this guy made me tremble. Before I called him, I looked at myself in the mirror and prayed, "God, speak through me and help me speak the words You want me to say; the words this guy needs to hear." Low and behold, I was still scared to call this dude, but courage was there; tenacity and strength were there and I didn't budge on my position one bit during our conversation. I can't help but think God gave me the words I needed to say because otherwise I would've been a bumbling idiot.  

Subconsciously, I think I've always viewed standing up for myself as being difficult or mean or needy; and I've never wanted to be labeled as unkind. But in reality, upon reflection, I am realizing that in standing up for myself, I am honoring the principles and the person God created. I am respecting myself and the gift God made in me. Now, how is that unkind? How is that being mean? I think changing my outlook helps me to advocate for myself and helps me form stronger and better bonds with those around me.

So I guess this Lenten season's theme for me is courage. It should be a no brainer because Jesus had to have incredible courage to willingly be crucified but I have never thought of it that way. Jesus stood on his principles, stood up to bullies and supervisors and He is the reason for Lent. So in taking a page out of Daniel Day-Lewis' book, I am tucking my chin in and leaning into the storm. 

***Lastly, the "Give" part of the reflection for Palm Sunday was "Tell three people why you love them today." When I'm done posting, I'm going to complete that challenge. I hope you will do the same.