The season of Lent is almost here. It may become commonplace for people to pass on the cookies at the office, or be unusually cranky in the morning if they have given up their usual caffeine fix. It is widely know as a time when people “give up” their vices in preparation for Easter, but there may be more to Lent than you think.
Lent season typically represents a forty-day period before Easter and is recognized by most Christian denominations. It is a time of preparation for believers to ready their spirits through forms of prayer, fasting, penitence and charitable giving. Each denomination has its own guidelines for Lent season as well as it’s own timeframe. Denominations often calculate the days differently according to their beliefs.
At one point in my life I really though lent was a time for Christians to pick a “bad” thing in their life and abstain from it until Easter came. I often gave up soda or cookies and looked at it as a trial of sorts, can I make it to the end without cheating? One year while teaching Sunday school the kids asked me about lent and I realized I really didn’t understand the season at all. Not wanting to let my class down I did my research and found out there is much more to Lent.
Preparation for the believer. I really had to look at my life to see what I needed in my spirit to become prepared for Holy week. What was I currently doing that enhanced my faith, what did I need to work on? For me these questions were harder to answer than I thought. I had to take an honest look at how much time I spent in prayer, was I even praying daily. I looked at how much scripture I read weekly and what other sources of spiritual support was I tapping into. It was a good time to be honest with myself and ask the hard questions.
Different Denominations, different guidelines. I am a member of the United Methodist church. I took my concerns to my pastor and he was able to give me some guidance about how our denomination views Lent. He also directed me to some wonderful resource books that I was able to take back to my Sunday school class and share. I have relations who are Catholic and I know they celebrate and prepare for Lent in different ways than the Methodist, so it is important to seek guidance within your denomination.
Giving it up. I have come to realize so many options for Lent that don’t fit into my previous “Pick something bad and abstain from it” formula. How about your time, can you “give up” 20 minutes a day of television or computer to pray? How about talents, do you have talents that local food banks, soup kitchens, donation centers can use, maybe this involves “giving up” one night a week to volunteer. I fall into the category of a driver who cannot drive without the radio on, but maybe I “give it up” and drive in silence so I can use that time to pray and prepare. Of course we can all look at the items like sugar, chocolate and my beloved Diet Coke as vices that we can cut out during Lent but I challenge you to think outside of the obvious this season.
*side note for fat tuesday (traditionally the day before Lent starts) the traditional paczki dougnut has 350 -400 calories and packs a whopping 25 grams of fat. Enjoy :)
