Did you break your Lenten promise? That thing that you said you would give up or do everyday for the 40 days of Lent. Did you not do it?
That's okay! It is okay if you broke your promise. It is okay if you messed up. We are all human and we are going to make mistakes. God knows that, he is not expecting us to be perfect. He wants us to acknowledge the times that we mess up and learn from them. That is what the season of Lent is all about.
Many Christians give up or do something during the 40 days of Lent in remembrance of the 40 days that Christ spent fasting in the desert. It is a time dedicated to re-focusing on God and making him the center of your life. The season starts on Ash Wednesday and ends with the celebration of Easter.
Lent is a time that is similar to that of New Years. People all over the world make a New Years resolution to make a change in their life. During Lent, people all over the world do the same thing. Unlike New Years, Lent is a concrete amount of time, leaving no ambiguity as to when you need to start and finish. After Easter there is a choice that needs to be made: do you continue living life the way you did during Lent or do you go back to living your life the way you did before Lent?
There is no right or wrong answer as it is your choice as to how you want to live your life. Something that I have learned, however, is that Lent is perfectly situated at the end of winter and the start of spring. Spring is when the flowers grow and the animals return. It is when new life is being created. That is what Lent and Easter are all about, creating a new life. Jesus died on the cross for you to be able to have a life without the fear of death. Jesus dying on the cross and rising on Easter Sunday marked that the gates of heaven were open and ready for people to enter.
God wants you to enter through those gates. Breaking your Lenten promise is not going to keep you from getting there. If you break or have broken your promise, acknowledge it, ask for forgiveness and then go back to living out your promise. It is not a one and done deal.
