Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday and it marks the beginning of Lent. For the past three or four years I have observed Lent - taken this season as a time to join in the suffering of Christ and prepare my heart for the joyful celebration of Easter by fasting from something.
But not this year. This year the time sped towards Lent and I was scrambling, trying to keep track of what is going on in my life and barely able to contemplate anything else. I come to this season without a clear sense of what to give (if anything). It sort of stinks, to be honest, and makes me feel like a bit of a failure for not being as on top of everything as I "should" be.
Yet, guilt/failure is not meant to be the theme of this season; fasting and giving up of things is. Again, I don't know what (or if) I will give up anything, but I do know God is calling me to give up the guilt, to give up the false expectations of myself, to throw them all down at the cross and look to Christ as my all in all.
At this point, my pride is what is suffering, and that's a really good thing to give up. As Lent continues and I look towards Easter and the joyful celebration to come it will be great to see how God continues to move to prepare my heart.