Practicing Lent
This entire concept of practicing Lent is fairly new for me. My tradition doesn't observe Lent so I have spent the last three years learning the reasons and rules for observing the forty days before Easter. You may ask why. I am not really sure I can answer that. So I will share what I've experienced the last couple of years and perhaps the why will emerge.One of the concepts of observing Lent is to give something up. Most of the people I have known throughout my life gave up candy or meat or something their parents forced them to give up. It was always a curiousity to me and as a child I was rather grateful not to have to abstain from candy for such a long time. Later on kids would come to school with marks on their foreheads and deep down there was this desire to have that kind of symbol too. I still did not understand the purpose for the ashes or giving up candy and meat. Flipping quickly through the years, about 3 years ago, my daughter was dating a young man who was Catholic and the issue of Lent came up again. So almost on a whim (but a very thoughtful whim) I decided to give up bread. It wasn't as difficult as I had thought it would be but I found that over the course of the 40+ days, the scriptures about Jesus being the bread of life and no man living by bread alone and many others came quickly to mind. I found I was thinking more about Jesus and what he had done for me. And by the time Easter rolled around, I was much more mindful of the crucifixion and resurrection than I had been in a while. And I was extremely grateful for bread when that bread basket came around during our Easter dinner!
Each Lenten season has brought more and more understanding of this practice of sacrifice. This year I decided that I would abstain from Chocolate. Now this was a very big decision because I am on a diet which limits just about everything else but allows chocolate. I had to think about this for a very long time. Finally, this year I am beginning to understand that this time is a time of looking deeply at my sins and seeing them for what they are--an abomination before my God. I understand the reason for the ashes and for the sacrifice of something I love. It is a time for mourning and praying for God to show me those sins I don't even recognize any longer or those that I may have hidden so deep I thought they were gone or even worse, those that I still hold onto and hope He doesn't notice. I am getting a very small taste of what it may have been like for David to put on sack cloth and pour ashes on his head, then to sit that way before God without food, praying for him to have mercy. I am seeing more clearly this year and the season of Lent is becoming very important to me.
I believe I will come out of this time of introspection and fasting in a different and hopefuly better place than where I started. Each year I have come out with something different but very worthwhile. I hope to pass this on to my friends and family. It's a good tradition followed for an express purpose of allowing God to speak to me about something in my heart or my life that needs to be changed in some way. It's a spring cleaning of sorts. As such it gives the resurrection a fresh, almost new and exciting anticipation. You know, I think I've actually answered the question of why.
posted by Dana @ 4:34 PM
2 Comments:
Nice to see you're blogging again! I've never understood Lent, and I'm reading about it on several of my usual blogs. You have a great way of explaining it, though my understanding is still a bit lacking. I keep saying I'm going to read up on it, but haven't yet. I posted a comment on my friend Kent's blog about this. I do mini-fasts (usually 30 days) at different times throughout the year for different reasons. Sometimes it's to regain focus on the important things in life, and sometimes it's just to prove I have self-control. Is this the same thing or even close? Thanks for sharing with your blogging friends!
I am learning there are several ways to practice Lent. It has something to do with the counting of the 40 days. Some start on Ash Wednesday and don't count Sundays because those are celebration days. Others start the Monday following Ash Wednesday. I haven't gotten the rules down well yet.
But really I'm not doing it to follow rules. For me it is a refocusing of my thinking and an effort to hear God more clearly. It has helped me to better understand that link between the decision to sacrifice something and the ability to draw closer to God by that sacrifice.
I admire you for your observance of 30 day fasts. That is something I have studied and I have done a 3 day fast before but I never became a regular at it.
There are some very good devotional articles on Lent that have helped me stay focused on why I am living without chocolate for a while. I am still learning as I go.
I think to answer you question, Niki, your fasts probably do the same kind of thing Lent does. Lent is a natural block of time with a definite (sort of) beginning and ending date and because it ends with Easter, there is a mental, spiritual and emotional buildup to that day of exuberant celebration. It has helped me appreciate Easter more. I guess a better way of saying that is that it has helped me remember the cross, the sacrifice and the resurrection in a fresh, new way. That's the main reason I continue to do this.
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