I recently saw this meme on my feed and thought “haha so true.”

Then, I texted my friend to complain that I don’t have a great community where I’m living yet.

Then, I went back to watching Fixer Upper until it was time for bed, said some prayers, and drifted into sleep.

Then, snoozed my alarm as long as possible the next morning, scrambled to get out of the house, worked, came home, and started the cycle over again.

See a problem here?

I didn’t.

Not until I took a good hard look at myself and my sweatpants and netflix and complaining.

My Laziness – My Mediocrity

Most people who know me wouldn’t think to call me lazy, at least not at first. But in reality, laziness and sloth are two things I really struggle with. I desire comfort and seek it often in solitude and doing whatever I want or whatever feels the least stressful. But then, I complain. I complain that my life isn’t what I want it to be or that my clothes aren’t fitting as nicely as usual or that I don’t have a #squad to get coffee with on my day off.

Recently, I’ve been feeling like I’m just coasting through life. It has been hard for me to feel engaged with what’s happening around me. So, I have been looking at my days a little more critically. What do I do when I wake up in the morning? How do I start the day? What decisions do I make immediately upon opening my eyes and how are they impacting my day? What about my free time? How do I spend it? How do I take breaks at work? What kind of relaxing am I doing?

These questions and their answers led me to realize I’m settling for mediocrity in a lot of areas in my life. Instead of getting in a little workout before work, I stay in bed and scroll through Instagram and Twitter. Instead of getting up and walking through the office or praying during my breaks at work I sit on Facebook. During my time off, I often find myself sitting in my cozy chair watching TV, scrolling through blogs, or trying to “tune out.”

I think to myself, “I’m relaxing, this is good for me” or, “I’ll read a book in a little bit, for now I just need to check out for a bit” or, “the extra sleep will be good for me, I can work out tomorrow.”

These are lies I bought into that led me into mediocrity, and maybe you feel like you’re in the same boat.

Trading Mediocrity for an Abundant Life

I think it’s easy for us to distract ourselves. We live in a culture of distraction, it’s even been said a goldfish has a longer attention span than we do.

This all leads us to mediocre living. God, offers us something different. He offers us abundance of life but in order to receive this abundance we need to stop checking out. We need to stop the cycles of laziness in our lives. We need to put down our devices and look at people.

And I know, I sound like a grandma, but hear me out.

A Lenten Opportunity

Lent is here and I don’t know about you but Lent feels like my own personal surprise party every year. I find myself saying, “Already?!?” and panicking about what I’m going to do.

This year, if you are feeling like me I encourage you, to take a critical look at your days and find places where you are settling. Invite God into those places, into those times, into those sins, and ask Him to refresh you, renew you, and transform you. Lent isn’t just a time to find something to fast from, it’s an invitation from God to use the act of breaking bad habits or overcome laziness as a means to grow into the abundant life He has for us, in relationship with Him.

Giving God Small Things to Live a Big Life

Transformation involves movement. Take one thing. One thing that you find yourself settling in or being lazy about and take this Lenten season to change your habits. I’ll be right there with you. I have plenty of things to change. Invite God into those things, into your laziness and ask for His Holy Spirit to help you see the good things God wants for each moment.

Time is precious, we don’t know how much we will have and I think we are all pretty good at wasting it. People who have suffered great losses know this well; they choose to live abundantly and I have been blessed to know so many people who live their life out loud.

I’m not saying we need to be perfect or happy all the time. What I am saying, is that God wants more than our spare time. He wants us to be living each moment to the fullest because each and every single one is a gift from Him. We have been gifted each day we have lived, how have we been grateful? How have we honored that gift?

And don’t get me wrong. I’ll still be making some time every week for some Fixer Upper but I will also be avoiding that snooze button and getting my butt off the couch to go and do things that make me come alive: service, singing, reading, praying.

And during this season, I encourage you to find the great things the Lord has for you, the abundant life He has created for you — even through little things like exercise or healthier eating habits. Then, go do it. No more excuses or snooze buttons. No more mediocre living.

Happy Lent friends, come alive.

To enter more deeply into the season of Lent with a daily prayer companion, check out Glorious Wounds.