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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Lent for Life

You're probably wondering why I have started a blog and what on Earth "Sneezing Elephant" means.  What I am striving to do is basically blog any thoughts I have or anything that is on my mind that I feel needs sharing.  For quite a while I would be thinking about stuff and feel the need to write it down or share it and never got the opportunity.  That is what this blogs purpose is, as for the name...
I chose "Sneezing Elephant" based on the common phrase "The Elephant in the room."  If you are unfamiliar with it I will give you a quick definition.


"The Elephant in the room"  An important and obvious topic, which everyone present is aware of, but which isn't discussed, as such discussion is considered to be uncomfortable.


The idea of an elephant in a room is that you cannot ignore it and those who ignore it would rather concern themselves with other irrelevant issues...Now if an Elephant sneezed, it might be a little harder to ignore.


What has really been on my mind lately is Lent.  But not just the 40 days/Easter kind of Lent, but a Life of sacrifice.  I often find myself wondering and asking myself questions like, "If God asked me to give up _______ for him...Could I do it?" The second part of the question I often find myself asking is "Would I be able to give _______ up for the rest of my life?"  It doesn't necessarily mean giving up some huge life changing thing like electricity.  I'm thinking more of things that I have great difficulty giving up.  In December of 2010 I was driving around one night and wondered if I could go without a computer for a month.  I suddenly felt like I needed to give it up. Why not? It was only a month.  See I am the typical video nerd who could sit on Youtube/Facebook for hours and waste away my whole day.  The amount of time I realized I had suddenly when my computer was shut off was incredible.


Now I realize that giving up a piece of technology for a month doesn't seem like a big deal to some people, but it sure got me thinking about what I hold on to.  What if God asked me to give up my computer forever? Suddenly it feels a lot harder to say yes.  For someone else it could be anything, cell phones, video games, chocolate, eating fast food, videos on Youtube, Facebook or even Jell-O.  As I continued to ponder all of these minor things that I would miss if they were gone I realized that there are much bigger things out there that God could ask me to sacrifice for him.  What about having children? Getting married? Wealth? What if he asked me to move far away, somewhere I didn't want to go?.....Could I do any of those things?


I think too often we naturally assume that life means having a good job, looking our best, a nice house, a family and a bunch of friends.  But is that why we are living? Ask yourself why you are on this Earth, is it to be successful in societies vision of the perfect life?  I think that if we don't ask ourselves these questions we wont be prepared for what the future may hold.  What if God asks you tomorrow to move across the world and give up everything for him? Your first answer probably wont be "When can I leave?!" it might sound more like "Sorry God you've got the wrong guy here."


I'm by no means saying that we should all sell our homes and move somewhere else.  I'm just hoping to get the ball rolling and get you thinking about what you hold on to in life that you wouldn't like to give up.  What is it that you want to be able to say "Yea it's really important to me, but I'm giving it up for you Jesus."


I don't have all the answers(not even close) and this isn't me telling you how to live.  This is just what I have had on my mind for a little while and I would LOVE to hear from anyone who has different opinions and ideas. I'm still learning everyday.


Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."
Luke 9:23


Until I have something else to rant about and share,
Spencer L.

1 comment:

  1. Nice to see someone else thinking about these things. Keep blogging - i'm interested in hearing what the Lord teaches you next.

    Chris

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