Preparing my heart for Easter...

It's been a long, long time since I have blogged…in fact, it was January 1st…dang…I have missed this little part of my world!  Don't get me wrong, I have read and kept up with the rest of my blog world…just getting the motivation to post something has been difficult for me!  I started grad school…so all my writing efforts have gone into that…believe me when I say that I would much rather be writing a blog post than an APA format paper!!!

Today is Ash Wednesday…one of my favorite season in the liturgical calendar.  I take this season to heart and really evaluate my life and how I am living it.
I am not perfect…
I sin…
I make bad choices…
I gossip…
I complain…
I make excuses for being a better person…
I lack on my prayers…
So, as you can see…I have a lot of work to do this Lenten season.  But, I am motivated to be a better person!
I am motivated to make better choices…
I am motivated to say nice things about people…
I am motivated to not complain as much…
I am motivated to be a better person…
I am motivated to get back into my prayer regimen that has been lacking…

As I remember the sacrifices that Jesus made for me to walk on the earth and be a sinner…I am ready to make sacrifices in my life to prove to him that he didn't walk this earth for me to take advantage of it!

In order to help with my motivation list I have given a few things up in order to become that person I strive to be!
I am giving up Facebook…that stupid little social media site sucks a ton of my time for no reason at all.  Most of the posts on there are not even worth reading, in fact I have found myself getting angry or irritated with some posts that people have posted…so alas, Facebook…after these 40 days and 40 nights, I just might not know you even exist!
I am striving to be a more positive person…there have been a lot of changes at my place of employment lately and I have noticed that I have been a negative nancy…which is not something that I want to be known for.  If I have noticed this about myself, I am more than positive that there are people that think the same thing…so I am here to say that I am going to make an effort everyday to be more positive…it is so needed in order to prepare my heart for Easter!!
I have to biggest sweet tooth imaginable…so I am making the sacrifice to give up all sweets for 40 days and 40 nights!  Last week when I decided this, I literally started stuffing my face with candy, chocolate,  cookies, pumpkin bread, scones…and well everything in between…I realized I have a problem!  Hello, my name is Allison, and I'm an addict…to sweets that is!
As I was sitting in mass this morning, the announcement was made that Stations of the Cross are held every Friday during Lent…right then and there I made a decision to attend at least half of the Stations during Lent!

There you have it…I am ready to prepare my heart for the coming of the risen Lord on April 20th!  I am excited to see how the Lord will help me with the sacrifices I have chosen to make…he is there…EVERY.STEP.OF.THE.WAY!!!  I will collapse into prayer when I am struggling…