What is Lent?
I would always ask my mom this question pretty much every
year before Easter, because every year I’d forget and have to have her tell me
again. She would reply, “It’s when somebody gives up something for God. Usually
people will go on a diet, give up chocolate, or something like that.” I always
thought it was weird. Why would God care about me eating chocolate? Overall, my
mom and I basically agreed that if there’s something you should give up, it
should be for good and not for forty days, and that if it wasn’t something bad,
why give it up? Again with the chocolate example, I couldn’t see how avoiding
something so trivial would bring me closer to God. It seemed like an old
tradition, similar to sacrificing animals or avoiding certain foods—something of
little relevance today.
This Sunday, I heard a different explanation from the youth
pastor at my church. She said that you give something up so that whenever you
crave that thing or are having difficulty going through with your goal, you
pray about it/focus on God instead. This made A LOT more sense to me. My
initial thought in response to her description was that it was sort of like a game, a
challenge that brings your focus back to God. The point isn’t always what you’re
giving up, but the fact that you’re becoming more aware and thoughtful in the
process. And it doesn’t have to be chocolate. Our youth pastor asked us what we
could give up for Lent, and there were some pretty abstract answers. People
said things like
- · Actually getting up when the alarm goes off and doing something productive, starting your day with God, instead of snoozing ten times and waiting until the last five minutes (giving up sleeping in)
- · Giving up worrying. This was from my friend who worries over everything. And how beautiful is that, to give up your worries and go to God instead?
- · Giving up negative thoughts.
Our youth pastor even told us that her mom usually can’t
think of anything to give up, so instead she fasts every Monday during lent.
When she’s hungry, she goes into a time of prayer.
The origins of Lent actually aren’t in the Bible, but,
according to CatholicEducation.org, “Since the earliest times of the Church,
there is evidence of some kind of Lenten preparation for Easter.” Furthermore,
ucg.org (United Church of God), even states that there may be pagan origins in
the traditions of Ash Wednesday and Lent. Both of these articles (which you can
go to by clicking them) provide possible explanations as to where the holiday
actually came from.
To be honest, though, that doesn’t matter as much to me as
what is done now. For example, giving
up something for the purpose of being able to say, “I gave this up for God,” is
meaningless. Giving something up or making some sort of goal and then using it
as a way to spend more time with God, it seems to me, is what it’s really all
about.
I had to post this because I never thought of Lent in a very
meaningful way. Now I see it as something that really has nothing to do with
the thing you’re giving up. It’s about that reminder you get when you crave
what you’re giving up, leading you back to God. Sure, you can choose to give up
something that actually does get in between you and God (it’s a great idea,
actually), but you don’t have to. As I think about it more, I wonder if
anything has to be given up at all. After all, there are no strict rules about
it, are there (at least, I’ve never had any)? Lent could be a time of adding
something new—which, in a way, is giving up something old. You could “give up”
your time after school or work to do yoga, read the Bible, or do something else
you don’t normally get around to doing that could help bring your focus back to
your spiritual life. Above all, my take on Lent is that it’s not about rules,
but about refocusing, loving, and spending a little more time with God as we
near a time when He gave up so much for us.
“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above
yourselves.” –Romans 12:10
What are your ideas on Lent? Any abstract things come to
mind that you could give up? Let me know in the comments! Seriously, I find
this fascinating to talk about and to hear differing ideas and opinions on
(whether you believe or not, I don’t care).
If any of you are participating in Lent, good luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment