Week 158

Positive post Sunday, March 1, 2020- Week 158. 

I started these Positive Post Sundays 158 weeks ago in preparation for Lent.  My plan was to write something positive each day “during Lent” to offer a positive alternative to all the negativity we read and watch every day in virtually all communication channels.  My first Positive Post was short and simple.  Here it is, “I’m starting a Sunday tradition of posting a positive message each week”.  Well, God had a different plan for me.  Apparently, he didn’t want me to stop and here I am writing my 158 consecutive Positive Post on the first Sunday in Lent.  

For my friends who are not familiar with Lent, Lent is a period of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving traditionally observed by Catholics and some Protestant denominations.  It begins with Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday.  For my friends who are mathematicians, Ash Wednesday is 46 days before Easter Sunday, but for some the Lenten fast does not include Sundays, so the six Sundays before Easter are omitted from the 40-day fasting period.

During myWeek 5 Positive Post, I noted that I had traditionally given up ice cream for Lent but chose to do something different that year and in week 107, I wrote about being inspired to do both and suggested that if Michele joined me, we would remove a significant financial burden on our family😊.  More importantly, for something different and positive, I reread the thoughtful and action-oriented questions at the end of each day in the book The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren (a gift from my daughter Heather Rendler Stinson) and committed to do one additional good deed or make one sacrifice each day based on the question for that day.

This year, in addition to continuing my Positive Posts and doing a good deed each day, I’ve added reading Living Lent Daily from Loyola Press.  A thoughtful and insightful collection of readings.  Here is a link: https://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/liturgical-year/lent/living-lent-daily.

Although Lent can be a catalyst to give up the negative and destructive distractions in our lives, we don’t have to wait for Lent each year to replace them with positive actions that bring us closer to God.  As Jesus has done, we can continue to make sacrifices in our daily lives that lead us down a path to eternal life.

I realize that not everyone recognizes Lent or shares my faith, but it is my sincere hope that, regardless of our faith or beliefs, we can all work together to reduce the many negative influences we face in our daily lives and create a more positive, collaborative and loving environment that is sustainable for our future generations.

What are you doing in your daily life to create a more positive, collaborative and loving environment that is sustainable for our future generations?