Lent: Day 14 of 40
Name: Ben Lee
Lenten Commitment: Go to sleep by midnight.
You would expect a normal person to go to sleep before midnight right? Not me. My bedtime is usually sometime around 3 a.m. That is why I decided to set a midnight curfew for myself this Lent.
Not only does sleeping late affect my mood, but it also affects my relationship with Christ. Because I normally do my quiet time in the morning, I believed sleeping earlier would help me become more focused and open to Him speaking to me through scripture.
I thought giving up late nights would be easy because it is simply going to sleep before midnight. However, it turned out that keeping this Lenten promise was not as easy as it seemed.
At first, I was able to keep up with my commitment to my curfew. There was a clear improvement in my relationship with Christ. I was definitely more aware of Him throughout the day. During my quiet time, I would have focused prayers and discover the glory of God. Giving myself a curfew seemed like a really easy solution.
But one night, through a large amount of procrastination on my part, I found myself with two projects to complete and only 30 minutes until midnight. I ended up going to sleep at 1:30 a.m. that night.
The following day started off with a very half-hearted quiet time. Throughout the QT, there was only one word resonating in my head: sleep. Obviously, I did not get much out of that quiet time.
It was then that I realized that giving myself a curfew involved much more than just going to sleep earlier. I decided then to tackle my work before dinner and cut back on the amount of time I spend playing video games and hanging out with friends.
Throughout this experience, I have learned that I am a lazy bum. I have also learned that Jesus can easily give you a smacking if you try to take the easy way out. But, if my QT has taught me anything, it is that Jesus is more than willing to love a lazy bum like me. I will definitely try to continue keeping my curfew even after Lent, in order to have a more intimate and fulfilling relationship with Christ.
Dongsan Youth Group 