This month our spiritual theme is TIME. One of the units of time that shows up over and over again in scripture is that of 40 days. Jesus spent 40 days in the desert; it rained 40 days and nights during the Biblical flood; it took 40 days to embalm Jacob/Israel's body after his death; Moses was on the mountaintop 40 days and nights while receiving the commandments from God, the Hebrew spies spent 40 days scouting out the promised land; Goliath taunted the Israelites for 40 days straight before David faced him; Elijah traveled 40 days to reach the mountain of God. Now we are in Lent, a practice of time that lasts, you guessed it, 40 days.   During this time of Lent, consider a practice of taking some time for God. Here are two ways you might do this:

· Set an alarm on your phone for the 40th minute of one or more of the hours of the day each day (like 11:40 or 4:40). When the alarm goes off, take 40 seconds to pause, take a deep breath, and notice how God is showing up in your day.

· Set aside a set amount of time for prayer. Set a timer and commit to praying for that complete amount of time. Start small, just a few minutes at a time. Add a minute or two as you get more comfortable in prayer until you reach 20 minutes twice a day, for 40 minutes of prayer each day.