"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

"Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the Joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then I shall teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

"O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

- Psalm 51:10-17

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent is a time for reflection and sacrifice, a time for Christians to give up what has been taking their time and energy away from serving God. Lent is a time for Christians to sacrifice so that they may feel what Jesus felt when he suffered and died for our sins.

Yet, too often, many Christians don't give up what they should. They say, "Oh, I'm going to give up such-and-such..." then two days later, they are back to their old habits. Or they give up something they don't enjoy anyway. I did that once. I gave up egg rolls one year when I was younger. They were something I enjoyed a lot when I was little, but by this time I was tired of them and probably hadn't eaten one in two years before that Lent rolled around.

This year, however, I have decided to give up Facebook. That is a big sacrifice for me. My life is often overrun with friend requests, notifications, event invitations, and stupid applications. When I'm not working on a class project on the computer, I'm on Facebook. So, for the next 40-odd days, I am giving up that which is sucking my life away and instead replacing it with a "Scripture of the Day" blog on here. I feel this is a fair trade since I do spend most of my time on a computer and this is a very good way to get me to read and understand the Bible better and feel closer to God.

Now, mind you, I may feel compelled to put two up in a day. As a matter of fact, I may put a second one up today to reflect upon the verse at the beginning of this post because it is one of my favorites. This two-a-days may make up for days that I forget and/or are too caught up in my work, because it is so easy to lose sight of the Spirit when you are stressed and busy. But, either way, at least I am making an effort to change my habits and forcing myself to repent of my all too often sinful ways. I am participating and taking joy in the spirit of this season, which is more than I can say for many of my friends and family.