Lent: A New Way Of Thinking

Why Helloooo!
So for the past 3 weeks I have been in the process of celebrating (do not know if that is the correct usage of the word) Lent! Woo! Ya Jesus! But as I was in this process, I came along some bumps in the road. First I said that I would no longer eat fast food, well, NOBODY told me that COSTCO counted as fast food! haha So right after I posted the Countdown to Easter post, I ate fast food, but I promise you that I did not know that food from Costco counted! Heck that is all my family lives off of: Costco and Sam Club meals! So there was no way that I was going to be able to do that one. Now onto my second bump in the road! I said that I would replace all my usual drinks (coffee, tea, soda etc) with water and I must say that that had been going pretty darn good UNTIL Mexico. So I recently went to visit the fambam down in Mexico and I was doing good there. They offered me cafe, soda, and lemonade numerous times and I turned them down. Ya, I felt good and I thought in my head 'This is for you Jesus!' lol anywhoo we went to sit down and eat lunch and they had given us all our meal accompanied with a nice glass of lemonade. So the lunch was BOMB DIGGITY! We had manaray! yeah the fish! Craaazy good! So probably like 3 hours later, as we were driving back home, I realized that I had taken 3 sips of the lemonade. Trust me, when I say sips, I mean sips. Anyone who knows me, knows that I guzzle down drinks like no tomorrow. But apparently, I just took some sips without even thinking or really even enjoying it.  So when I realized this, I started beating myself up about it because I really wanted to make it through the whole thing without even cracking.
So fast forward to last week: My friend Kailie and I were talking in the car about out Lent experiences and I told her about all the stuff that I had been craving recently and how it was becoming a little bit more difficult for me. Then her gorgeous genius butt told me to not get legalistic about it.
 The concept of Lent will not bring you any closer to God people. Now stay with me now, I am about to explain. The only reason why Lent will have an effect on you is if YOU  allow it to. Lent is not about giving and sacrificing, it is about CHOOSING to do something else. If I just went through the motions of Lent and it wasn't about giving glory to God then it would be pointless. Lent is an act of worship not an requirement. If you do not do Lent, then you will not backslide in your walk with Christ. Even if you participate in Lent, there is chance that it won't have any affect on you whatsoever IF you do not have the heart behind your actions. So Lent is not about me giving something up and suffering in the process. Here is how I think of it:

1. God should be our number one in everything!
2. For Lent, I will give up something that I really like because God is my number one and is better then that thing anyway.
3. During Lent, my FIRST choice will be an alternative to what I really like. For example juice. My first choice will not be juice or soda or etc. but it will be water.
4. Say that I am in a restaurant that does not sell water then either I will not have anything to drink OR I'll drink some light lemonade. I do not HAVE to do anything. It is all about choice, intent, and where your heart is. God knows that my first choice would be to glorify Him by drinking water, but if that is not an option, then there is nothing that I can do.

So obviously if someone is Catholic then they are not going to agree with me on this, but this is what I believe to be correct. As Christians, we always totter on the lines of legalism and it is not about the practices or rituals but about the relationship! Well, Happy Lenting! Hope this helped! :)
-Te Amo
Jazz