I Have started sending out an inspirational email called Fit for the Master 5 days a week and have got a lot of good feed back. If you like it and want to receive it please send me your email address. REFLECT Joel 2:12-14 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; 13 And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness And relenting of evil. 14 Who knows whether He will not turn and relent And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God? Lent is the Christian season of preparation before Easter, it is a season of repentance and reflection and is about regaining self-control, especially in those areas that damage others. It is the period of 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday and it begins on “Ash Wednesday.” It is a period of prayer, penance, fasting, and self-denial. And on the day before Ash Wednesday is known as “Fat Tuesday.” That is because it had been traditionally the day when people would try to use up the things in their house that they are going to give up for lent. Like baking pastries, cakes, eating candy and all the sweets and things that they do not want in the house to tempt them during the lent season. Growing up in Detroit, there is a very large Polish community in that area and one of the traditions on Fat Tuesday is the making, buying and eating “Paczki.”(Pronounced POONCH-KI) Paczki looks like a jelly doughnut, it is a round dough pastry and is fried in oil until it is crispy and filled with various fillings from custard, to prunes to jellies and many other things. They are absolutely delicious but are not very good for you. Unlike the doughnuts, the Paczki uses a lot more eggs and they are denser than doughnuts and each one packs a whopping 400+ calories and 25 grams of fat. With each one you eat you would have to exercise the equivalent of running 2 miles in 30 minutes to burn off the calories and even with that, it does not stop people from buying them. One bakery in Hamtramck, MI. made 300 dozen this year, which is 3600 of the delightful, tasty pastries. Even though we have traditions like ‘Fat Tuesday” and then giving up something or things for “Lent”, we should not have to wait for this time of year to do this. Any day of the year, 365 days, it the best day and the best season to reflect and repent, to get closer to our Lord. It is hard in this world and it is hard not to follow the things of the world and do what we are not supposed to do, so we need to go to Him on a daily basis. We need to go to Him in prayer, read and study His word, get refocused each day, and return to Him if that is the case. It is good to have this time of the year,(Lent) to prepare for the time that we remember what our Savior did for us on the cross and then His resurrection, which without that everything about Him and our faith would be a lie, but we know that He rose, Praise the Lord! So, instead of making every day “Fat Tuesday” make every day “Ash Wednesday!” Have a Blessed day! Jeff Waara If you know anyone who would be blessed by this daily email please pass it along. This is sent out 5 days a week and all I need is an email address to add anyone to this so they can receive it on a regular basis. If you have any feedback, questions or just need prayer, just email me back.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 03:25:46 +0000
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