I am giving-up blog posts for Lent.

Obviously I am not giving-up posting…

 

So apparently it’s Lent.

 

For those heathens out there, let me break Lent down for ya.

 

Lent is basically Easter’s pre-season. That’s pretty much it. Technically, it’s the 40-days between Ash Wednesday and Easter.

 

Though for some odd reason certain folks (sometimes referred to as Christmas & Easter Christians) seem to get into Lent.

 

The whole shtick is that someone gives-up something that is important to them in honor of the sacrifice Jesus made for them.

 

The irony is that these C&E Christians (I am not even a C&E Christian myself, and make no pretenses otherwise) usually give-up a vice. Which is ironic, because as a Christian, these vices should be avoided year-round.

 

I am a Protestant, so technically, I don’t HAVE to partake in Lent. The practice of self-sacrifice is more of a punishment in the vein of Catholicism. (We Protestants got the long-end of the stick on that one…Woo Hoo!)

 

Now I'll get down off my high-horse. I, the self-described bad Christian will admit, I usually give something up for Lent.

 

One year it was cussing, another it was chocolate, etc. For a few years it became a game as I tried to figure-out something that sounded impressive, but really would be easy. I gave-up going to Canada one year, for example.

 

But then I changed my perspective. I started giving-up things that were a big part of my life: Fast Food, Coffee, Cussing (a very difficult one), etc. The idea was not to focus on what I was missing, but to allow more opportunities to remember why I was doing it in the first place, to ponder religion and be thankful for what I have.

 

When weighed against the sacrifices that have been made for me as a Christian, not dropping the F-bomb for forty days, seems downright trivial. Being reminded of those sacrifices numerous times a day really helped to ground a perspective that can really get off-kilter.

 

So although I didn’t give anything up this year, the simple fact that I am writing this exhibits that I am thinking about religion, which as I said before, is kinda the whole point.

 

PS- Feel free to share what you have given-up for Lent in this or past year in the comments section. And, as always, feel free to share your thoughts on my ramblings there as well.