Lent

I've never given up anything for Lent before. I can't remember what my reasons were in the past, but I decided to do something this year.

I never really had a favorite holiday growing up (it doesn't help that Christmas & Easter have always been associated with looong hours at work in the family flower business). But a year or two after I moved to Florida, I attended a Maundy Thursday service at the Baptist church we were attending... basically, it's like a Good Friday service. I don't remember what was different about that service for me - but I still remember being strongly convicted about the sinfulness of my own heart and the suffering that Christ endured to make my salvation possible.

And I remember after mourning my sin and the death and brokenness of Jesus... how joyous it was Sunday morning to go to church and celebrate the Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday. It was from that point that Good Friday and Easter became my favorite holidays.

If you're unfamiliar with it, Lent is the 40 days before Easter, mirroring Jesus' 40 day fast in the wilderness. It's not something that I grew up observing. It's always seemed a big part of the Catholic Church to me (especially growing up in Northern NJ).

I don't know when I started thinking differently about it, but I guess I've heard different friends over the past few years talking about Lent and what they were going to give up for Lent. (The deli in our hometown sold a lot of fish on Fridays during Lent... or was that all year round? I'm still confused on the matter).

The idea of giving something up is supposed to have different benefits for your spiritual life. When fasting from something, it serves as a reminder to you every time you think about eating that food... why you are abstaining. It reminds you of Jesus' own fast, of His journey to Calvary and His sacrifice there.

My attempt is to give up candy and to cut back my sugar intake significantly. This is fairly difficult for me, as I already eat gluten-free (I can't eat anything with wheat, rye or barley in it). I also eat limited amounts of dairy. So this leaves me with very few indulgences, and I have come to look forward to my little sugary snacks... and way too much sugar in my morning coffee.

It's something that is beneficial for me, and I'm thankful that I have the accountability of Lent as I do this. I think I realized today that the rough week I've been having health-wise (muscle aches, headache, fatigue) could possibly be sugar withdrawal... or maybe not. I have enough other stuff wrong with me that it could be something else (because I don't think I ate that much sugar... but I do find myself wanting it frequently...maybe I'm self-deceived).

I'm also thankful for the gift that my friend Jill sent. Check out this link for a picture of the gift (a wooden marker for the 40 days of Lent) and a great post on Lent at A Holy Experience. I'm thankful for the author's openness and honesty on the matter of fasting during Lent... and how she continues to fail. Giving something up for Lent is not to work towards salvation... as we cannot do anything to earn or keep our salvation.

If anything, striving for holiness and discipline in our lives will constantly remind us of how desperately we need our Savior, as we fail again and again. But that's the point. That's why the Law was given, according to Romans. Not to provide a way of salvation to mankind, but to show mankind that they could never ever fulfill the Law - no matter how hard they tried... even if they could get their outward actions to line up with the Law, their hearts were still desperately wicked.  The Law was never meant to save - but to point us to the One who could save us.