First

With Lent quickly approaching, my mind has been on what to do for Lent. What will be my Lenten sacrifice?  Do I give up my time to do something worthwhile?  Give up food? Give up money for a worthy cause?  "Lord, what do you want me to do?"

In the gospel reading from Monday, a rich man asks Jesus what he should do to be a better person.  Jesus tells him to give up all of his things and follow him.  It's made me think.  What things hold me back from following Jesus? What baggage won't allow me to get through the narrow gates? 

Those are tough questions to answer. I find a million excuses for how those "things" are important or why I need that "baggage."  Do I really want to offer those things up so that I can follow Jesus?  Do I really want to leave those bags at the gate to follow Jesus? My lips say "Yes."  My heart says, "Well, maybe, but first..."

Then I hear Jesus, again, from Sunday's gospel.  "Seek ye, first, the Kingdom of God and his rightousness."

Yet again, in today's gospel, I see the word - first.  "But many who are first will be last and the last will be first."

My heart is stirring. I need to make a holy offering this Lent.  I need to seek those things that will put me in touch with God first and not with being first in the world's eyes.  I need to discern what is holding me back from seeking God first.