"So what are you giving up for lent?"

So what are you giving up for Lent?
Those words were ringing around in my mind and ears for the days before Ash Wednesday.


This is the first year I've attended and participated in an Ash Wednesday service and I was really excited. As a child, I'd see the kids that went to services on Ash Wednesday and think, "Wow, why can't I go to school with a dirty forehead?" Personally, I'm not sure if I thought of it as an opportunity to get out of school or a natural curiosity about diversity of faith - but I wanted to be involved either way.

In Lent, we think about our weaknesses, humanity and how Jesus was willing to give so much of himself for our sake. Lent is another part of the Easter story that I feel often is glazed over or replaced by our own human desire to improve ourselves.

"So, what are you giving up for lent?" the question looms over us like the barrage of new years resolutions from only six weeks ago. People give up sweets and fattening foods I think more for the hope that it will show up more in their waistlines than even considering the darkness of their own hearts.

I was thinking about my approach to lent the other day after my niece said to just give up chocolate, but giving up chocolate wasn't what I think it's about.

Lent to me is reflecting on who you are and plugging into God to assist in building or rebuilding something that that is weak or lacking in myself.


"So what am I trying to give up for lent?" Honestly, I'm trying to give up "negative self-talk" for lent". This has been a challenge for me for a long time and it goes in cycles. Oddly enough after deciding to retrain my mind, the negative talk seems louder than before- maybe I'm just paying attention to it more? I'm not sure, but the attention to grace gives me the idea that I need to give myself some grace in this 40-day journey as well.

Lent isn't focus on the negative, it's seeing things the way they are and imagining how God might work them out. Relying on God more, not less. Becoming more Christ-like is a journey that takes more that 40 days!

So whatever you given up for lent, think beyond the mere physical element of it. Think about the heart of the matter. What is the weakness, temptation, or thorn that prevents you from being or becoming more like Christ? That "thing" is the thing that we are required to give up to God on this 40 day journey. Don't try to carry the burden by yourself. Dare to go beyond things this lent and learn the balance of grace and honesty that God offers to each one of us - at the heart of the matter.