After almost 20 years of marriage, and 45 years as a Catholic, I have decided to give up myself (in a sense) for Lent this year, and put The Love Dare by Stephen and Alex Kendrick with Lawrence Kimbrough to the test.
The Love Dare is a book which asks the reader to embark on a 40 day journey of dares in the hopes of understanding and practicing unconditional love.
I first heard about The Love Dare while watching the movie "Fireproof" - I admit I was intrigued but mostly because I thought my husband should do it for me! What an ugly rut to fall into - always looking to the other person to do something, to change something, so instead of looking to myself to make a difference, I, in my entitlement, put the thought away for another day.
As the Lenten season approached, I assumed I would give up the same things I always give up, wine, sweets, Facebook maybe - but somehow, this year, those sacrifices didn't feel nearly as well, sacraficial as I felt they should, given these were the days of giving penance for the forty Jesus spent in the desert (Mat 4:1-11) so as I was trolling the Sam's Club book aisle, I came upon The Love Dare book, and bought it completely on a whim. It was definitely a half-hearted, impulse purchase so you can imagine my amazement when I discovered *gasp* The Love Dare is actually a 40-day challenge!! It was that "godincident" that led me to my decision to "deny myself" or "give up myself" for Lent in order to understand and practice unconditional love in my marriage. So, in my way of thinking, I am making my marriage about God and me during this Lenten season, so that I might dare to love.
I purchased the book the Friday after Lent started on Ash Wednesday, so my official start date of The Love Dare challenge is Saturday, February 20, 2010. After each day's dare, I'm supposed to journal in the book, however, as writer's do, I decided instead to blog. So, here's to my 40-day Lenten Love Dare - I can't wait for the journey to begin.
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