I’m participating in Lent this year. I’ve heard people referred to it as “celebrating” Lent but if you ask me, giving something up for over a month is nothing to celebrate. Ask me again when it’s over, haha!
Deciding to give something up for Lent was an idea that came to me at the very last minute. This year Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) fell on Valentine’s Day, and coincidentally there was also a mass shooting at a Florida high school on the same day. I didn’t have my husband around on Valentines Day because he was working, and I was really wrecked by the news. It made me take a look at my life and consider making some changes for the better.
No one was more surprised than my husband when I decided to take part in Lent. His main argument was “why are you even giving something up for Lent when when you’re not even Catholic?”, which was a good question. I don’t know quite what I had hoped to get out of it. But now that I’m 30 days into Lent, I can look back and see that I’ve certainly learned more about myself and grown in my faith during this time.
Learning Through Lent
Since I’m not Catholic, I actually didn’t know too much about Lent before I jumped on to the penance train. After about 5 days in, I was busy Googling Lent rules to see if there might be some cheat days. 40 days is a long time to give something up!
The amazing thing was that, once a few weeks passed, I no longer missed the things I had given up. I found new habits to replace them with, and I felt a lot better both physically and emotionally. I spent a lot of time in prayer and reading my Bible. This book, Bible Praying for Parents, has helped me to be more focused when I’m praying for my kids.
I learned that I can manage to survive without giving in to my desires. They start to become less important the longer I put them off. I’ve been so successful at giving this one thing up for Lent, I think I might give up sugar and start the Whole30 plan! Wait, don’t quote me on that. I love cookies too much.
There are still 2 more weeks until Easter. I’m looking forward to finding out more about myself and seeing how God continues to transform me.
