Personal lessons on Lent...

Last weekend I was thinking about what I should have given up for lent but was sad thinking that I had already missed the start of the Easter season.  (Not attending a catholic church I usually have to figure out on my own when Lent is.)  I was plesently surprised when I discovered over the weekend that Lent had not started yet - yeah! . 

Lent is not something I was ever taught to practice.  Having grown-up in a very modern and evangelical protestant church, Lent seemed like and antiquated ritual of the catholic church and I didn't understand its purpose.  From the stories I heard about lent from my catholic friends, it seemed like it was a required practice of their religion with little meaning and it was kind of a joke.  Most commonly my friends gave up soda or chocolate for Lent and often they slipped up and by week two or three they were back to their old vices.

As an adult I've started to look  more into Lent over the past few years and I've come to love its focus on sacrifice during the prepratory season leading up to Easter - THE greatest example of self-sacrifice imaginable.  For me Lent has come to be a personal journey in my faith and relationship to Christ and it helps me refocus on what my faith is really all about.   The first year I chose to participate in Lent I decided to give up the old stand-by, chocolate.  It seems silly to "give-up" something that isn't really a necesity  - how sacrificial is that? - but through my weeks of giving up chocolate I realized it wasn't about having to give up something big - like the car, the computer or even my cell-phone.  For my personal journey, if I had to give up something as relied-upon as my cell-phone, I feel I would have come to resent the season of Lent for making life so difficult and I would have lost focus on the purpose of the practice.  Instead, by giving up chocolate, I was subtly and practically reminded on a daily basis (yes, I really do think about chocolate every day :)) of the great sacrifice God made for me.  In the momentary choices of the everyday routine I was made to pause, think about my choice, be reminded of the great gift Christ gave me, thank Him for his GREAT sacrifice and in my own way practice a bit of sacrifice.

I've come to learn that Lent isn't about how big a sacrifice you can make, its not a competition to see who can give-up more, its about personally choosing to give-up something that is a part of your everyday routine that will be a daily reminder of  the greater sacrifice God gave in sending his Son to die for our sins on the cross in Calvary.  I've thought about how good it would be for me to give-up facebook for Lent or turn off the tv, internet etc. but those things for me would become something I would pat-myself-on the back for, a trophy accomplishment and I personally know I would focus too much on my personal sacrifice rather than Christ's.  So, this year (drum-roll please........)  I am going to give-up coffee.  I know I can live without it but I also know I will have to make a daily choice to not have it and in those daily moments I will reflect on how blessed I am, how sacrificial Christ was/is and how far I still have to go in living a life worthy of the Sacrifice Christ made for me.

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone!  If  your life journey leads you to partake in the season of Lent, enjoy the journey and soak up those daily reminders of Christ's sacrifice & ultimate showing of Love!!

You are loved!
~L