Summary: <br> Before Jesus went to the cross, he went to the desert. For 40 days he withdrew from all distractions and prepared himself for the path ahead.<br> Now, as followers of Christ we are invited to remember his sacrifice and go into a season of reflection and preparation ourselves. Lent is your personal invitation to experience Easter beyond a new flowery dress and eggs in a basket, by first doing as Jesus did, offering an intentional sacrifice.<br> The 40 days of Lent, marking Jesus’ withdrawal to the desert before the cross, begins tomorrow with Ash Wednesday. 40 days of personal sacrifice. 40 days of focus on Jesus as a result of our chosen sacrifice.<br> The traditional sacrifices for Lent are objects we crave such as coffee, soda, sugar, chocolate, alcohol, TV or social media. What will you choose as your intentional sacrifice to honor the sacrifice of Jesus for you personally? What will you offer as a holy exchange to prepare for Easter this year?<br> How about your STUFF? Yes, the stuff you own, the stuff you bought with your hard earned money that is now sitting on a shelf, in a drawer, or piled in a corner. The stuff you no longer need, but for one reason or another, you’ve been holding on to.<br> Would you be willing to sacrifice a bit of your stuff every day for the next 40 days to remember the greater sacrifice of Jesus? Would you intentionally make more space in your life for God with a simpler lifestyle?<br> Ya’ll know, I’m a fully reformed former addict of stuff. Pretty stuff. Stuff I could wear and stuff I could fill my home with. Stuff that said “I’m somebody” and “look at all I have”. I spent my years accumulating more and more and you know what I found … it was never enough. I always wanted more.<br> And then I read a book with a challenge. The challenge was to give away one material object you most loved to someone who had admired it. I had a big ol’ house full of pretty things, but one of my favorite things was a wrought iron 4 tiered serving tray with beautiful white plates. It sat prominently displayed in my kitchen and I just loved it.<br> And I knew I was to give it away. Yes, while I still used it and while I still enjoyed it, let go of it. But dang I didn’t want to. My friend Laura always commented on my serving tray when visiting my house. So I showed up at her door by the end of the day with my treasured material object and I gave it to her. It’s space on my kitchen counter sat empty as a reminder of this challenge and I began to notice how good that felt. Space.<br> That was 10 years ago. I visited her house last month for the first time since I moved away and guess what was sitting on her table … the tray I loved, but gave to her.<br> This was the first tangible exercise in letting go of things for me. It created a domino effect that soon lead to my very first 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge.<br> 40 days of letting go. 40 days of sacrifice. 40 days of declaring simplicity over show and clarity over clutter. 40 days to remember the things we own shouldn’t own us.<br> And we begin tomorrow!<br> Who is in for the Lent 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge?<br> An intentional sacrifice of ‘stuff’?<br> Yes, this is de-cluttering with a purpose. This is a declaration of cleared space and availability for more of what God has for us.<br> I just wonder if God has been trying to take you somewhere and give you divine direction, but girl you can’t go because of all your stuff. You aren’t available because look at all your baggage. What could God do with a life like yours that was fully available? A life like yours with a complete surrender? A life like yours with open space and less crap to drag with you?<br> Let me tell you what he did with mine … he showed me the adventure of a lifetime. Once I let go of all my stuff and declared my life fully available,
