The Scenic Route To Easter

Years ago, I used to give up chocolate for Lent. This year, Ash Wednesday fell on the same day as Valentine’s Day. I ask you: is it reasonable to not eat chocolate on Valentine’s Day? I am glad I reconsidered my approach to Lent a long time ago.

The idea behind Lent is to engage in some form of sacrifice to enrich our souls and deepen our faith. It is a time for us to spiritually prepare ourselves to better celebrate Easter. Lent reminds us of Jesus’ forty days of hardship and temptation in the desert when he strengthened himself for His mission.

Growing up as a Catholic, I tended to observe Lent in two ways. I gave up some pleasurable activity (like eating chocolate) for forty days and I did not eat meat on Fridays between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. I’m not sure that either ritual had much of a positive impact on my spiritual development or my ability to joyfully commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter.

First of all, avoiding meat on Fridays is not that tough to do. Let’s see…. I can’t eat meat, but I can eat lobster, shrimp, grilled cheese sandwiches, vegetarian pizza, and peanut butter. That doesn’t seem all that sacrificial to me, unless I have to eat all those things at one sitting. That might be pretty penitential, but I don’t think anyone advocates stuffing the body with a feast of nonmeat products as a means of spiritual enrichment.

As far as giving up something goes, I do think there is some intrinsic value in sacrificing something we enjoy as a spiritual exercise to remind ourselves of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. It reminds us to be grateful for what we have and to remember that the greatest gift is salvation. I do tend to feel, though, that a sacrifice is more meaningful if it also generates a positive impact. I don’t think giving up chocolate had any impact on me at all except possibly to make me a teensy bit cranky. Maybe my sacrifice would have been more meaningful if I had saved the money I didn’t spend on chocolate ice cream and donated it to a food bank or something. Instead, I am ashamed to admit that I just spent the money on vanilla instead. I never thought about the second piece of the Lenten observance equation. I understood the “I’m going to give up” part but never addressed the “so I can do X” part.

A friend of mine is doing something this Lent that I think perfectly illustrates the point. She decided to give up television for Lent. It wasn’t that she gave up TV simply to make herself suffer. In fact, she says she is actually enjoying the break from television. In deciding on her Lenten observance, she didn’t focus on what she was losing. She focused on what she was gaining. She gave up television to give herself the time to read and study and pray. She believes that, in this period of focus and reflection, God is teaching her all kinds of valuable lessons.

I have not always been great at following through on Lenten observances that require me to do something overt rather than simply stop doing something. Some years, I tell myself that I am going to read a spiritual book or go to additional worship services or step out of my own internal world and mend relationships with others. Then, suddenly, Holy Week is upon me and I have done nothing out of the ordinary. Some years, though, I have found rich and beautiful observances that I still remember with gratitude. Last year, I began reading the entirety of the New Testament in order. One year, I subscribed to a program of daily Lenten emails and worked on implementing their challenges in my everyday life. A few years back, I wrote a letter to a different person every day during Lent to thank him or her for the richness he or she brought to my life. All of these Lenten “penitential” activities brought me more joy than I can describe.

This year, I didn’t give up anything. I continue to walk my way through the Bible. Last Advent, I started in on the chapters of the Old Testament and I expect I will be at that for some time to come. I am also working through a book about developing a deeper relationship with Jesus and journaling about how I see the author’s message impacting my life experience. I also gave a presentation at a church women’s’ group.

I struggle with wanting to contribute whatever talents I have to support the church and nurture the people of God, yet I am not confident that I have the talents necessary. I am an extremely introverted, shy person. The idea of giving a presentation of any kind is daunting. When I was working, I did a lot of teaching and presentations. I was a popular speaker. People were kind to me. I enjoyed the activity, even though I was always very nervous beforehand. Soon after I finished a successful presentation, I was always consumed with the certainty that the success was a “one off” event that I would never be able to replicate in the future. In addition to my general insecurity about speaking to a group, I have only been to a few of these women’s group presentations in the past. I was not completely certain of what my audience would want or expect from me.

As the day of the presentation got closer, I felt the anxiety level in my gut increase. All the preparation I had done felt inadequate and I felt confused about how to proceed. I had several, ill-formed ideas for the general approach I could take to present the information I had gathered. In speaking to a friend, she suggested that I ask God how to proceed. We agreed that I should try to relax and let the Holy Spirit take over my anxiety about the presentation. I followed her advice and, of course, everything went fine.

I said that I didn’t give up anything for Lent this year. I guess I actually did. I gave up anxiety about the presentation. I gave up the feeling of stagnant comfort when I agreed to be the speaker for the women’s program rather than simply a member of the audience. I gave up a small amount of time and frenetic energy to focus on reflection each evening.

My experience this Lent has not been a journey through a desolate desert. Instead, Jesus has taken me on the scenic route to Easter and I am enjoying a beautiful view!

What do you think?  Do you give up anything for Lent or do anything special?  Please share your perspective by leaving a comment.  In the alternative, you can email me at terriretirement@gmail.com.

Have a meaningful day!

Terri 🙂

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT COMING NEXT WEEK!!!! PLEASE TUNE IN NEXT WEDNESDAY FOR SOME BIG NEWS!!!

6 thoughts on “The Scenic Route To Easter”

  1. I too was like you with giving up the chocolate or candy for lent. The last few years I stopped doing that and felt if I put an effort to help someone that was a “sacrifice” in itself. I go out of my way to help people or visit them when they are house bound and feel that I get a reward from those things as much as giving something up. As you said too, no meat on Friday is an easy thing with all the choices of other foods without meat in them.

    1. Your “sacrifice” sounds great, Susie. I love that your Lenten observance has such a positive and important result!

  2. While I was raised Catholic, and still don’t eat meat on Friday’s in Lent, I’ve never really give up something for Lent since I was younger. I never really understood it… until you pointed out the give up X and do Y instead. So much for my Catholic education!

    I am however trying to give up a few things this year. One is what I call Comparative Inferiority. When you look at what someone else does/did and feel that you are less. Happens all the time (I’m doing less for Lent than her… I am such a bad person). I am also trying to give up the Imposter Syndrome – a similar concept at not feeling good enough… to start something, to do something without fear of failure, to woory that “they” will find out I’m not real/good at it. As I was reading your post, it struck me that you ARE good at making presentations. “when I was working I was a popular speaker”. No one is a popular speaker who is bad at it. Sorry, just can’t be true. People are not that kind. You’re a good speaker! Sorry, you need to change the tape in your head and drop the Imposter Syndrome you’re dealing with!

    So about that lobster for Lent…. now that is a good idea this week!

    1. The first time you used that term “imposter syndrome” in a comment, I instinctively knew exactly what you meant, Pat! I wonder who exactly we think we are impersonating, if not ourselves?! And who are these imposter police who are going to find us out?! You are right, I do need to work on changing that tape. I LOVE your Lenten “sacrifices.” Have some virtual lobster from me! 🍤

  3. Speaking about Lent, I used to attend a church in CA where we did not speak of lent at all. Here, in CO, we are having a large class speaking about lent and what it requires of us. We are reading a book called The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. Quite an eye opener and have just finished reading it. You might enjoy what it teaches.

    Anyway, I am working on giving to my family what they could use in their life to more enjoy the family activities. It really shows me how I can give to them from my income and help them to see what they can do with activities to more enjoy their lives together. I am enjoying the “giving” that I can do for them. Fun too.

    1. I’m so glad your “sacrifice” is reaping such great rewards for both you and your family. It sounds so fun! 🙏🏻

Comments are closed.