40-40-40 ... Day 13: Susan G. Komen

I took another day off of blogging/donating yesterday. Why this time? I decided to change my Sabbath.

Normally Sundays (or Saturdays, depending on your church) are considered the Sabbath, the day of rest, the day you go to church, and the "cheat day" for Lent.

But Wednesday is my ONE day off of work each week. It's the one day I don't have to come in to the office (which is just a few steps across the hall from our apartment, but still...). It's the one day I don't have to find crayons or pencils or folders or shoes or snacks for 20 little voices crying "I need, I need, I need..." It's the one day I don't eat beans and corn tortillas. It's my one day to not "have to" do anything.

And so it just seems logical that Wednesday would be my one day a week to not "have to" participate in Lent.

Christians (I speak for myself here) can get really legalistic about unimportant things. Like the "right way" to do Lent. But that's not what Jesus is about. Jesus is life-giving, not rule-demanding. So I think he'd be totally on board with me switching it up 13 days into this adventure if it felt better to my soul.

Now that I've got that out of the way... I'm on DAY 13!

AND (fun fact), after today's donation I have donated over $500 during this season of Lent.

My day 13 donation comes as a result of a conversation the women in my Bible study and I had this morning. Today was our first day of doing the "Daniel" study by Beth Moore. Since it was day one and we hadn't done any "homework" yet, we took the time to introduce ourselves and ask for one prayer request (we just finished a study on the Lord's Prayer).

I was trying to focus on everyone else's prayer requests and not think about what I was going to ask prayer for (and if I would be able to do so without crying), but it wasn't working out so well. So someone else in the room had to point out what was happening. I looked down at my notes and they confirmed what she said was true: Everyone in the room had asked for prayer for someone who was battling cancer. Every. Single. Person.

The prayers were for family members, friends, children of friends, people in our church... everyone knew someone who had just been diagnosed, who was battling again, who had just beaten cancer, or who were on their last days.

There were 25 of us in the room. And all of our prayers were the same: peace for the families, strength for the patients, wisdom for the doctors, and a cure for the future.

Today I invite you to share a name here and join in our prayer for peace, strength, wisdom, and a cure.

ACTION STEPS

LIGHT A CANDLE in honor of someone you know who is battling, has battled and won, or has lost their lives to cancer. 

SHARE the name of an organization you believe is doing good work to fight cancer. 

DO A SELF-EXAM. Know your body. If you notice changes or cause for concern, see a doctor.

RACE for the Cure by joining one of the 140 5k runs across the U.S. (I participated in one on a cruise ship a few years back!)

DONATE to inform, prevent, and support the work being done to fight one of these types of cancer: Ovarian Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Breast Cancer, Bladder Cancer, Kidney Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer, Lung Cancer, or Skin Cancer. 

*I made my donation to Susan G. Komen because of a special matching grant they have going on during the month of March. Per their website: 

During the month of March, your donation can make twice the impact. The Milburn Foundation and the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation will match any donations made, up to $50,000, to help us meet our fundraising goal of $250,000. All matched funds will go towards inflammatory breast cancer research.

Make your matching donation here.