The season of Lent is just around the weekend! Lent is a season of spiritual preparation for hearing and receiving the good news of Easter. For some people Lent has traditionally been a time of “giving up” something – a symbolic sacrifice to help remember the sacrifice that Jesus made. This practice was not a part of my faith tradition as I grew up, though many of my friends gave up (or tried to give up) things for Lent. Several of my friends would give up chocolate each year during Lent. To be honest, I am not willing to give up chocolate for 40 days! For the first thirty-five years of my life, I did not give anything up for Lent. One year not too long ago, however, I did give up something for Lent. I gave up yelling at my children.
It’s not that I have ever yelled at them a lot, but there have been moments. Children know how to push all of your buttons and there are days when it seems as if the only way to get them to listen to you is to YELL! Of course, yelling does not help either, it simply serves to raise everyone’s blood pressure. Several years ago as I was thinking about not giving up something for Lent, I thought, “maybe I should give up yelling at the kids”. I must have been having a difficult week! It started in my head as a funny idea at first. The more I thought about it, it began to sound worthwhile, so I did it. I gave up yelling at my children for Lent that year. And when Lent was over, I didn’t take it back.
Remembering this experience, I have begun to think about whether I should give up something for Lent this year. Here are some items that are on my list of possibilities:
- Judging – It is so easy to be judgmental. It is likely that I judge more often that I realize.
- Blame – In most situations, does it really matter who is “to blame”?
- Ignorance – Sometimes I don’t read the news because I don’t want to know the pain and suffering that exists. Is ignorance really bliss?
- Prejudice – We are all prejudiced, at some level, about something.
- Excuses – I have many excellent excuses for just about everything. What happened to accepting responsibility and offering sincere apologies when necessary?
- Negative self-talk – I am a beloved child of God!
That should give me plenty to choose from! What (if anything) will you be giving up for Lent?
~Sally Hoelscher