It’s been a long time…
It seems I always get a burst of inspiration and motivation to start creating and sharing again…then life happens. When that happens I will always *try to show up for my family first. It's something that I’m still trying to work on, but I’m excited to share some recent things on my mind!
-new year
-lenten season
-word of the year
-fasting plans for lent
The New Year
I’ve always loved the feeling of a new year and the feeling of a ‘fresh’ start. It’s a wonderful time to reflect on the previous year and set some intentions and vision for the next. And you may be like…Brooke…it’s March 3rd…the new year is already two months in. I hear ya.
For my family, January feels like a month of recovery from holidays and birthdays, and it is still very much finishing up things that lingered into the new year. February has been busy with Ace’s birthday (which we planned a party for and usually don’t) and T-Ball.
Cueing up March as the ‘start’ of the new year just felt right rather than forcing it to happen January 1st.
This is just a friendly reminder that you don’t need a new year, new month, new day for a fresh start!!
The Lenten Season
A season that ‘is a solemn period centered on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving’. As Ash Wednesday approaches, I’ve been meditating and praying about what God has in store for me this year. Specifically, asking God to show His plan for me. What can I do to grow closer to God? I’ve been listening to the Abiding Together podcast and have been loving it! It’s given me so much wisdom and guidance for this season.
My Word of the Year
Presence. I prayed for God to show me a word and presence kept coming up. Then I started thinking about what presence currently looks like in my life? Do I like the way it looks? Am I 100% present with my husband? Kids? Family? Friends? Church? In my prayer life?
Why is God calling me to be more present?
What is taking my attention and focus away from God? The excuse of “I don’t have time.” Isn’t applicable when I know I have at least an hour of pointless scrolling on my phone every.single.day. And I use the reasoning of “Oh I just want to relax and zone out for a little bit.” And when I think back on those thoughts it makes me cringe…why do I need to zone out and tune out of my life?
I just read this in the book Reconnected by Carlos Whittaker and wow it hit home, hard.
“How much louder was God’s voice when the volume of life was turned down low enough to hear Him? Sometimes it seems like God is silent today, but maybe it’s just that the volume of life has been so loud lately.” Fasting Plans for Lent
From Hallow: Pope Francis challenges us to think about fasting as something more powerful than we normally consider it, describing it as “learning to change our attitude towards others and all of creation, turning away from the temptation to ‘devour’ everything to satisfy our voracity and being ready to suffer for love, which can fill the emptiness of our hearts.”
I’ve got two big focuses for my Lenten season: iPhone and health. I’m going to walk you through my plan with actionable steps if you want to join in on any part!
iPhone
I’ve tried several different things to “block” things on my phone, and while they are helpful, they are easily bypassed. I ended up biting the bullet and purchasing Brick, which is a physical device that is connected to an app on your phone and once you ‘brick’ your phone you can place that little device somewhere and you’ll only be able access what you allowed…finally a way for me to ditch Safari on my phone. I will likely have two different settings, one for daytime and one for bedtime, that is much more strict.
Every time I sat down on the couch to nurse Marcella it was almost like a nervous tick that I had to have my phone. In place of that, I have two physical books (one for fun and one for more personal development) that I’ll pick up instead or I might just take those few minutes to be present with her or chat with Ace *gasp*.
Also saying these things aloud sounds ridiculous, but I know I’m not alone, so I’m just laying it all out there in hopes it helps someone else.
The ultimate goal is to reduce my phone screen time. Right now, Kindle and Safari are my most used apps and I’ve shared my plan to reduce Safari and I’m also going to be leaning into my physical book more than my Kindle app.
Health
Health is always a huge goal for everyone and I’ve never tried to legitimately fast from something. And I’ve decided I’m ready to take that on. During Lent, we fast to join in Christ's suffering, detaching ourselves from worldly things, making more room for God in our lives, practicing holy habits that will help us grow in virtue. I’ll be giving up processed sweets/snacks. My goal is if it comes in a wrapper I’m avoiding it. I’m going to be leaning into more homemade foods, fruits/veggies and just taking on more of a Whole Foods approach. God made my body as a vessel and left me in charge of it and I want to ensure that I’m taking care of this wonderful body he gave me!
On Fridays I’m always conscious of avoiding meat during Lent, but it’s typically in the back of my mind and not something I put a huge focus on, but this Lent I’m creating a meal plan and will be sticking to it and sharing with all of you!