Lent has been on my mind lately. I'm in a place where I can't really ignore it or forget about it like I do back in the states, so I think I'll try to participate this year.
As I understand it, Lent a 40 day long period that we use to help cleanse and prepare us mentally and spiritually for the death and resurrection of Christ. We're supposed to use it as a tool to bring us closer to God so that we might experience Good Friday and Easter in a more robust way. I love it. I know I particularly need a 40 day long period of discipline, perseverance, and growth towards my ideals.
This year, however, I've been somewhat stuck on what I feel like I should be doing to prepare. A few years ago I gave up caffeine for 40 days. It was incredibly difficult, but I don't necessarily feel like it prepared me spiritually for anything. I just got crabby and tired.
So this year I think I'll be a bit more deliberate about coming closer to God. This year I've elected to pray every morning when I wake up and every night when I go to sleep for the entire period of Lent. I think that's a good appropriation of this year's time, and it's something I feel like I need to do.
It's time for a little forced development, which is another way of understanding this holiday. The verse that's been in my mind all week is I Corinthians, 8:11, which says, "When I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things." I'd like to put my priorities in the correct order. I'd like to do away with the childish ways I act and begin to think and act like a man.
1 comment:
WHile I was in college I gave up chocolate one year and all sweets the next. This was actually a radical change for me. When I became more involved in Buddhism, I stopped drinking alcohol for about four years and gave up meat permanently. But it wasn't about sacrifice, it was about trying to mindfully consider the choices I was making and letting go of things I could not justify. I like the idea of contemplative exercises, but don't follow Lent anymore.
My, that was quite a little tangent, wasn't it?
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