eating scripture.

struggle with reading scripture regularly? We hit dry spots too- here's what helps us:

1. Bible reading plan. Committing to a bible reading plan keeps us on track. We personally like the Zondervan’s Bible in 90 Days schedule. It’s only about twenty to thirty minutes a day of reading. Our favorite part of the 90 day schedule, is that you can get in four cycles every year. That means for every year, you can read through the bible four times. Repetition helps you soak in the word. If you’re not much of a reader, or if you don’t have a lot of time each day (it's about 30-40 minutes worth of reading per day), stick with something more spread out like a yearly bible plan. I don't particularly like the translation the Zondervan's Bible in 90 Days is in, so I wrote down the daily schedule and use a different translation.

2. Translation change. If you find scripture hard to understand or digest, try a different translation. Some translations aim for a word for word translation. Some of our favorite translations are more literal, but it can be difficult reading (Translations like ESV). Translations that aim to translate thought for thought can be easier to digest. Thought for thought translations are not paraphrases. They are just as accurate as literal translations- sometimes more so. A word for word translation can strip the meaning when the sentence doesn't mean anything to us in our language- thought for thought transcends this and finds the closet words possible to make sense. If this is something you’re interested in, try the New Living Translation (NLT) or New International Version (NIV). Our favorite paraphrase bible is The Message (By Eugene Peterson). It is truly a gem and by far my favorite bible. If you’re just not able to sit and read through scripture, pick up a copy of The Message. You’ll be surprised.

3. Audio Bibles. If you are short on time, audio bibles can help. You can listen in your car, while you clean the house, drifting off to sleep, or while cooking. Tyler and I have talked about how we sometimes ‘get something new’ when we listen to an audio bible. Something stands out to us that we didn’t notice before while reading the words. This happens all the time. Some audio bibles are simple with just one individual reading (My all time favorite audio bible is Johnny Cash reading the New Testament). Some add background music to the dialogue. Others are more dramatic- complete with different individuals doing the voices and sound effects of the actions. Our favorite dramatic audio bible is Word of Promise. Famous actors do all the parts- Jim Caviezel is Jesus, again. And my personal favorite casting choice of all time: Richard Dreyfuss as Moses. Heck yes.

4. Proverbs. I sincerely believe if everyone read Proverbs every day of their life, our world would look mighty different! There are 31 chapters in Proverbs, just like there are 31 days in a month (or 30). Each day read the chapter correlating with the day's date- if the month only has 30 days, read two chapters on the 30th. A simple dose of wisdom every day will go a long way. It will penetrate into your conversations, judgement making, and thinking process. Tyler and I usually do this together- reading the daily chapter silently and then we share our favorites. Sometimes he points out things I've never noticed before and vice versa. 

5. Commentaries.  I am constantly flipping through our commentaries to understand the context, the vocabulary, or symbolisms. Get yourself a good commentary that provides detail information verse by verse. No commentary is perfect. Sometimes doctrine opinions will differ from your own, but you can still glean a lot of information and knowledge to help understand the context of the verse you're looking at. We have a few different commentaries, which I love. They don't always agree with each other, but you can get a taste for what the common belief is. 

If you’re struggling with scripture, try something new (translation, audio bible, commentary?). Commit to a reading plan. Do it with someone else for accountability. Whatever road bumps you have, work at it! Your bones will dry out without the word of God.

xo

Laura Emily

gratitude

For the longest time I struggled with the idea of “contentment”. What is it? What does it look like? …feel like? I seemed to constantly be told I was not content, and I resented the fact that God would want me to be content with where my life stands. What is wrong with not liking things?

As I thought, I came around to the idea of gratitude. I’m not sure how much gratitude has to do with contentment, but for me it was a place to start. And start I did. I decided to write a thank you note each day for something I am grateful for. Whatever the something is, it doesn’t really matter how big or small, it is just a way to keep my mind focused on gratitude. The funny thing is, over the last few months as I have been writing my thank you notes, my life has really changed; or rather, my perspective has changed. I truly am more grateful, and I am gaining an understanding of what it means to be content.

 The whole process keeps my mind focused in a way that I could not otherwise maintain. In the past I often faded in and out of God, prayer, hope and everything else. I hated the rollercoaster.

Now I am more leveled out and more at peace. For that I am truly grateful. 

It’s my ceremony. 

-tyler

[We forgot to mention Lentfest this year will not be posting on the weekends- all in accordance to keeping our lives more simple. Sorry we forgot to provide that information.]

blessing pouch.

Keeping things simple and to the theme this year, I want to share a little ceremony or ritual, per se, that Tyler and I have. I didn't grow up in faith that incorporated a physical manifestation of prayer aside from, "close your eyes and bow your heads." I was always curious about prayer beads, or objects of similar nature, because the connection between a physical action or tangible object with prayer was foreign to me. Something I love about prayer is how open and individual it can be- at the end of the day it's a conversation or unraveling of thoughts between you and God. 

But sometimes I'm lacking the words to step into prayer. When I don't have the words, my prayers are forced and frustrating and lack little thought or sincerity on my part. So when God brought the concept of a blessing pouch into my life, the daily connection with the Sacred was intensified and encouraged in my own path. 

Insanely easy to put together. You can use whatever you have hand to make something similar. 

I generally use lavender because I always have it on hand. You can use whatever you want. Herbs and seeds are great choices because for the most part they are safe to return to the earth. Sometimes I use a blend of traditional herbs like white sage, lavender or yarrow. Alternatively I'll use flax seeds. 

Every day we sprinkle some outside, thanking God for this day. Thanking him for anything in particular. This moment for us is a daily check in. A moment of gratitude and physical prayer. When I don't have the words, I leave my little blessing or offering still. God knows my heart. 

When we first started this practice, it was more or less an solution to my frustration with my prayer life. 

But as my prayer life came out of the rough season, I've kept up the daily blessings or "gratitude offering" as I usually refer to them as. I would honestly say it's a core pillar in my faith today. 

We have an Ebeneezer Stone (another lentfest post for Monday), that I usually sprinkle the offering on during the sunrise or moon rise, but you can leave your offering anywhere or at anytime. I do suggest leaving it outside. Taking that little moment out under the sky- witnessing what God has done- is a little slice of perfection. 

Try it. If you don't have any materials to use, don't sweat it. Just get outside for a minute or two each day. Spend time with God under His sky. Thank Him for the day. 

The simple things really do cultivate faith and thanksgiving. 

grounding

I was blessed to have a friend once- who did not believe in any sort of faith- ask me, "Would you be a Christian if you didn't get saved out of the deal?" I was surprised by the question, but I think it was the start of a distinct shift in my thinking. 

We make it sound beautiful and godly:

“I want to be made clean.”

“I want to be saved.”

“I want to be Spirit-filled.”

These ‘motivations’ that have us circling towards God are a foundation made of sand; they will sweep out with the tide. These motivations and reasons are based on ourselves, not on God. So when the high tide sweeps in and changes the structures of our foundations, what do we fall back on? What happens then? When we no longer have an emotional need for Him, will we drift away from God? 

Simplicity really is the best medicine and faith. The start of creating ceremony- bringing the Sacred in our daily life- starts with understanding why we choose to follow God in the first place. Is it a weak motivation? A selfish motivation? Getting grounded, for me, means returning to the core. Returning to the basics. In this case, God. Let the reason for your faith be God. This is a foundation built on Rock. 

Worship God; not because He can and will make you clean. 

Worship God; not because by the atonement of Jesus’ sacrifice, we can be redeemed.

Worship God; not because He can fill you with His Holy Spirit, producing gifts and fruit in your life. 

but worship God because He is God.

Circle towards God because He is. 

Would you be pursuing God's will for your life if there was no confirmation that you would be redeemed and saved in the end? What would your reasons be then? Why do you choose to follow God now? Because you love Him? You love the church? You were baptized as a child? You have poor health? You're in a hard place? You are broken? To please your family? It isn't for me to answer the question for you- and I confidently believe most of us have different responses, which is quite ok. But unwrapping our motivations and questioning them can show us the gaps and avoid the consequences the high tide can leave us with. 

get grounded. 

the tide will always sweep in, so unravel any faulty foundations and begin again. 

ash wednesday

The theme we were working with for Lentfest 2012 never felt right to us. It didn’t reflect what God was doing in our own lives the past year. We left attending churches several years ago so we could stop living out our faith for someone else, and Lentfest was beginning to take on the same tone. So after throwing out notebooks of attempted writings and efforts made in vain a couple of months ago, we felt God tugging us to write about what He’s taught us this year. The practices and methods he brought into our lives to create an organic and thoughtful path.  

The theme he weaved into our lives over the last year is taking its roots here, at Lentfest, this continual lesson of creating ceremony and ritual in our daily lives. Whatever that may look like. We hope whoever you may be, or where ever you find yourselves, you glean what you need to hear. I think a lot of us are moving into this unknown territory- we certainly don't know what we're doing. We just know God is the lead, so we follow. 

Today is Ash Wednesday. The start of the lenten season. Today as we fall into repentance, mourning the crap we find in ourselves -selfishness, wallowing in self-pity, living out lives of negativity- take a moment to decide if you’re living out the path you claim. Do you attend church, participate in fellowship and try to be a good witness, and then call it good?

Or are you pursuing the sacred in your daily life? 

Through the next 40 days (46, if you count Sundays- which we don’t), we want to start a discussion on what pursuing the sacred in our daily lives can look like. How to create ceremony.

…because that’s where we’re at. 

fat tuesday.

Can you believe Fat Tuesday is already here? We're doing lentfest differently this year. Acoustic and simplified. We've removed the previous year's content, changed commenting formats, and are looking forward to a quiet and thoughtful lenten season. We have a very specific theme for this year- a theme that God has been weaving into our lives since last Lent- and I'm excited to share it tomorrow.

As for today friends, enjoy Fat Tuesday. Pull up the extra treats. Script your plans for Lent. Cut down on schedule engagements. Inward and quietly, we move forward....after we feast tonight, naturally. It is Fat Tuesday, after all.

what will you be giving up for Lent this year? Meat? Sugar? Cooked foods? Wine?