Lent

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday - the start of Lent. Lent is the season leading up to the death and resurrection of Christ. And in this "Gotta Have it NOW" world is not observed by many. I am guilty of that as well. This year I have however thought of what will really help me prepare and understand so I am actively observing Lent.

I am not now nor have I ever been Catholic. I believe that Catholics in general are much more observant of Lent that the Protestants (Unless of course it interferes with something that they like more such as drinking green beer on St. Pat's Day). Most I know about what Catholics do or don't do is by a friend, fellow co-worker or student "giving up" something for Lent.

Growing up, this confused me. I never saw how not eating chocolate or drinking pop for 40 days had anything at all to do with the death of Christ. Honestly, I am still a little fuzzy on that. However I was blessed enough to learn from a minister a way that does make sense to me. Although there is noting wrong with the sacrifice of giving something up, I learned to not only give up, but replace.

So this year I looked at what I do when I am not doing anything important. Two things sprung to the front of my mind - Tetris and Facebook. I can make the cut from Tetris simply enough, but as I have some commitments (that is how I communicate with my Angelfood church) I can't completely cut it off. Here is the compromise - Tetris will be cut off and a timer will be used whenever I am on Facebook so I will limit the time there. I am sure that once those distractions are gone, I will have quite a bit of time on my hands. In that time I am committing to not just waste it, but spend that time in prayer, devotions, or Bible reading.

At the end of this season, I will then be really ready to celebrate the resurrection of my Lord - and the lure of technology will not have as strong a pull over my life. In essence, I am taking what doesn't matter and exchanging it for something with eternal rewards. How can I loose?