LIVING, LEARNING & LOVING during LENT
Lenten devotionals for March and April. We will focus on a different concept each day of the week: Sundays: Resting/Taking Sabbath Mondays: Fasting Tuesdays: Giving Wednesdays: Serving Thursdays: Praying Fridays: Studying/Learning Saturdays: Celebrating/Playing.
March 29 (Saturday – Celebrating/Playing)
- Scripture: Psalm 145:7 — They shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness, and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
- Reflection: As mentioned last week, the opportunity to be playful, to revel in life, is part of the way we maintain our balance as well-rounded people. This also helps us be grateful. Such experiences bring out our capacity to experience and appreciate the positive aspects of life.
- Spiritual Practice Prompt: Celebrate today by writing down three things about which you are grateful.
Song:
- Kind and Generous by Natalie Marchant: https://youtu.be/uAwyIad93-c?si=ai7Z5x0Wd2Ob48XH
- Thank God I Do by Lauren Daigle: https://youtu.be/wfR6XLXRNy0?si=MjK8vrTA2k1jC9Hh
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.– Marcel Proust.
About Gratitude as form of Celebration by Dr. Keith Edwards (excerpt, full article here: https://keithedwards.com/2015/11/25/5-levels-of-celebration-and-gratitude/
Level 1 – Uncomfortable — Some of us have a hard time appreciating anything in our life. We downplay birthdays, promotions, public accolades, and dismiss attempts at affirmations for major successes. We are more comfortable focusing on what didn’t go right or the downside of these celebrations … This is often because those things we appreciated as children were taken away.
Level 2 – Event Focused — Event-focused celebrators can take time and enjoy the big moments in life. … We notice and appreciate these major life events.
Level 3 – Detailed — Practiced celebrators appreciate the smallest things to be grateful for in life. We celebrate the meeting that went well, the unexpected phone call from a friend, the compliment on our new haircut, or just a kind word from a stranger at the coffee shop…
Level 4 – Wonderful — These celebrators appreciate with wonder the everyday things that others take for granted and wouldn’t even notice. We marvel at simply turning a knob and hot water coming out. … We appreciate the beauty of nature around us every day, as well as the cityscape before us – for both, are wondrous beauty in their own ways.
Level 5 -Jedi — What is left to celebrate? The Jedi celebrators practice being grateful for the things that are not good. We celebrate our mistakes for the learning we gain from making them. We celebrate our loss as a reminder of the gift that it was. We celebrate our hurts because they attune us to our humanity. We celebrate the transgressions against us because they help us be clear about who we want to be …