Lent

I had all these grand ideas a few months ago that I was going to make a separate blog for this no-make-up-for-Lent-venture (ha-ha!!!!) Clearly time has been scarce but, I did want to share how it has turned out to be a divine surprised. I thought giving up make-up for Lent would be difficult- especially when a big zit appeared; boy was I was ever wrong!

The reason I chose to give up make-up, instead of something more traditional, is I have been mulling around this question for a while now--what is the difference between: expressing myself, enhancing myself and misrepresenting myself? Are any of them sinful for me? As I've thought about this and what it means to be a modern woman but, live a godly life I am often confused. The lines are ill defined and intensely personal. I thought the season of Lent might be a fitting opportunity to investigate what image really means to me. To let go of something temporal for something more eternal.

Let me be clear, I don't dare to be legalistic, I LIKE make-up! I hope to be Tammy Fay Baker on Easter morning! I've missed the mascara the most! Well, now that I think about it, maybe the concealer for the bags under my eyes...oh wait the lip gloss is really nice too. The reality is I don't think about it much any more. See here is what I was getting at. This giving up make-up for Lent has actually be a gift to me, from the Lord. It is funny that I thought I would do something “hard” and instead he gives me something “light and easy.” My burden is light. I have felt free. Not wearing makeup has made me less stressed because it has given me time. It has been a reminder that my worth is found in the Eternal God. The Lord knew what I needed and I would have never “found” it on my own. I'm ending this season of Lent with a grateful heart. A changed perspective. An unexpected freedom. A chance to see things as they really are...blemishes and all.

“Nothing you have not given away will ever really be yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself and you will find in the long run envy, hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, vanity, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find him, and with him everything else thrown in.” CS Lewis