Lent Fail...

So...I had high expectations as Lent began that I would write a letter of encouragement each and every day of this season. Unfortunately as school, work, and life got busier, I failed to make the time and effort to ensure that I completed the challenge that I set for myself. And while I'm disappointed, I am also encouraged. A few days after sending one letter, I received a text message that said, "Just got home from a very long day. GOT A WONDERFUL CARD. so wonderful, I cried. I love you. Thank you so much for thinking of me." The realization that it takes 10 simple minutes to write a letter that can have this impact is amazing. And I think I must be crazy to not write letters like this more often. While I failed in this endeavor, I'm not going to give up. While I may not have written the 40 letters that I intended to during this season, I did get a start. And I'm certainly not finished.

This post is inspired, in part, by a blog post of a friend of mine from today. In it, she mentioned a friend who made a list of 183 people that had played an important role in her life in the past year. She wrote each of the 183 names down and put them into a bowl. Every other morning she pulls out a name, spends two days praying for that individual, and writes a letter of encouragement. If that's not inspiring, I'm not sure what is. I want to be a person like that. So here goes...I'm going to try this again. But this time, I'm hoping to make it a lifestyle change. How cool would it be to write a letter of encouragement every other day to someone who has been influential in my life. It's simple, really. Take 10 of the 4 million minutes I spend wasting my life away on my computer and spend them writing an inspirational note of encouragement. I know for certain that I can't do this on my own strength, but I'm praying that God might enable me.

I'm going to get started on my list...check back in the future for more updates (if anyone is actually interested). I didn't read that blog post today on accident...and I'm sure that God has great plans to use the words that He gives me to be an inspiration and encouragement to the people that have been a blessing in my life.