Nicole Joseph-Chin

As we approach the Lenten Season, the big question on our hearts is always, what are we giving up for Lent?

The beauty of Lent is that not only are some of us making a personal choice, we are also doing this as a collective action amongst a vast global faith community, in many ways and for one goal–to live and be in harmony with our faith and to feel the deep love of God as he was sacrificed for us and our salvation.

Oftentimes, as Lent draws closer, we go through a series of doubtful moments about what we should be sacrificing and how it should be done.

The ways we consider living in the desert can scare us in our humanness but there are ways to ensure we are emotionally and spiritually prepared for the surrender involved in our Lenten journeys.

Given adequate time and thought we can consider the many ways our own lives and situations resemble Luke 9:23 and if this feels easier with time, it is because we have also understood the rewards are always at hand and that we are often rewarded by a wonderful outcome.

Some of the surrender questions to ponder as we are preparing ourselves for the Lenten season:

• What do we want to achieve by surrender?
• Are we enriching ourselves with self-discipline or is this undue punishment?
• Do we want to draw closer to God or is this the tradition we are keeping alive?
• Are we able to let go and let God, loosening our grip on the things we have little control over?
• Are we ready and able to abstain from foods, activities, habits and is it going to benefit or challenge our physical, mental and spiritual growth?

When we begin to relax into capturing the essence of surrender in a season of deep and focused collective sacrifice, we do not feel so alone in our efforts.

So, is this a better pathway to surrender? Does this feel more akin to a way of sharing the burden of yielding?

Can we use this time and season as the stepping stone to making surrender a habit and a way of thriving?

Are you ready to surrender?

Nicole Joseph-Chin is the author of Ready to Surrender – “A pocketbook of peace, power and purpose”