Giving back the hour
We don't have to give up Sunday morning church for Lent
I came home from a meeting on Wednesday night, feeling a bit guilty that I had missed the Ash Wednesday service at church.
I was exhausted from a long day in the middle of what had already been a long week. I sat down in my big, brown leather chair – a place I call my “comfort zone” – and asked my wife what she was giving up for Lent.
“I still don’t know,’’ she said. “What about you?
“I don’t know, either,’’ I said. “But I’ll figure it out.’’
By the time the sun came up the next morning, God had spoken to my heart. I even used it as my devotional at the morning prayer breakfast I attend every Thursday.
Lent usually comes at a time when our New Year’s resolutions have fizzled out. We’ve run out of gas with our pledges to exercise or promises to give up social media.
But Lent doesn’t have to be all about deprivation or abstinence. It can be enforcing or reinforcing a spiritual discipline.
I have been thinking a lot about the change over to Daylight Savings Time this weekend. I wrote about it in my column this week in The Macon Melody.
And that’s why I decided to focus on my personal clock management during this Lenten season. I’m giving up any kind of excuse for not having enough time to devote to my family or my church.
We are all given the same number of hours and minutes in a day. How we use them is up to us. I’m convinced none of us ever has the time … we have to make the time.
I reflected on something that has stayed with me since I was in high school about the commitment to attending church every Sunday morning.
The Lord gives us a week. We can give him back an hour.
Those words have stayed with me since I was 14 years old. I was with my mother at an antique shop in Crab Apple, Georgia, where I found a plaque that was painted black with gold letters.
She let me buy it. It was called the “Teen Commandments.” It wasn’t until years later that I learned it was from a song by Paul Anka.
They aren’t the same as the ones Moses brought down from the top of the mountain. But it’s good, practical advice, no matter how old you are.
Stop and think before you drink.
Don't let your parents down, they brought you up.
Be humble enough to obey. You will be giving orders yourself some day.
4. At the first moment, turn away from unclean thinking … at the first moment.
Don't show off driving. If you wanna race, go to Indianapolis.
Choose a date who would make a good mate.
Go to church faithfully. The Creator gives you the week. Give him back an hour.
Choose your companions carefully. You are what they are.
Avoid following the crowd. Be an engine, not a caboose.
Even better, keep the original Ten Commandments.
I kept those commandments in my room during high school, along with the Raquel Welch poster from “One Million Years B.C.”