Jesse Coulter

I grew up in a home that taught respect, love and care for each other. We were taught to trust our intuition, stand up for ourselves, and never give up.

At my father's memorial we knew the preacher would share memories of our father, but we didn't know the details of the service. He shared scripture from 1 Thessalonians 4, and focused on the following verses, "⁹ Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. ¹⁰ And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, ¹¹ and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, ¹² so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."

When I tell people I gave up chocolate for Lent, I usually hear, "Wait, you're not Catholic." Well, no I'm not, but I still participate in Lent.  For me, Lent is a wonderful way to celebrate Christ and his sacrifice for all humanity.  Sometimes I feel Christmas sneaks up on me, not the presents and Santa part, but the actual Jesus was born on this day part.  I focus so much on the nostalgic/non-Christian parts of Christmas, that on Christmas morning I have to stop myself and say, "Why am I celebrating this day? Why am I giving my friends and family an abundant amount of presents?" 


Easter however is the complete opposite.  For 40 days I starve myself of a desire that I usually don't go a day without.  This year it was chocolate.  I didn't think it would be that hard, but after about 4 hours, I realized it was going to be a LONG 40 days.  I was extremely blessed to hear from my 7 year old niece that she was giving up candy.  What? You know what lent is, AND you're giving up the one thing you eat every day.  What an admirable thing for a 7 year old to do.  Everytime I reached for a piece of chocolate or my favorite Tiff's treats chocolate chip cookie, I thought, "Ugh, No. I gave up chocolate for lent." For that split second I complained, but then I instantly internalized why I made that decision.  For me, having the Lord on my mind through out the day, and being reminded of him was worth the sacrifice. Also, it was a great way to share my faith with my co-workers.

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