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Giving up Lent
Posted by creativedifference on March 1, 2009
A friend of mine asked what I was giving up for Lent. My flippant reply at the time was “Lent itself”, although I felt guilty having just eaten her pancakes. I further explained that I didn’t feel there was anything I particularly needed to give up. She replied that this was not the point.
I got to thinking about this, and realised that it was rather like my feelings about New Year resolutions. This was about the negativity of giving things up and the need to perhaps have a vision, a dream, something positive that will gradually force out more negative behaviour and the poor self image that creates it.
Lent is about more than self denial, but do many of us treat it that way? One of the things I remember about fasting, rather like crash diets, is that you normally end up eating more and putting on weight as a result. All that denial springs back on you like a snapped rubber band. It also makes me think of the film “Chocolat“.
So I’m not going to give up Lent, which would be negative. Instead I’m going to do something positive for Lent, which will be to practice gratitude each day for what I have.
Caroline said
Self-denial hardly seems positive, does it? But it has a strangely positive effect. I have given up alcohol for 40 days plus 40 nights plus Sundays. I don’t think I realised just how long Lent is such until I removed such a vital part of my diet
I’m not entirely convinced that it is having the performance-boosting gains I had hoped for, but it is certainly an interesting lesson in self-discpline.
I am sure your resolution will have equally positive benefits, and it is nice to know there is someone else out there doing good stuff in the lead up to Easter. And even in these recession-depression times, there is so much to be grateful for.
creativedifference said
I think the satisfaction in these situations comes from feeling in control. I find affirmation more positive. I’m coming at this in part from the “I’m OK, you’re OK” slant of transactional analysis, as I suspect giving things up is buying into “I’m not ok” quite often.
Alice Hainsworth said
My, what an amzing friend you have there.
A x
dmbaldwin said
Your comments resonated with me. I left a comment on someone else’s blog remarking that Lent should be a time of celebration for what Jesus has done for us, not one of suffering. He is the one who suffered for us so that we wouldn’t have to.
I love your reference to Chocolat. What a great movie. I think anyone going out to start a church should watch that movie.
Thanks for the post!
Blessings,
Dave
PS: I have included you on my blogroll.
DMB
Eric said
In my observance of Lent, I prefer the “Dr. Phil” (you can return your eyes to center now) method. That is substitution of one for another. A negative for a positive. In our case (wife and I) we gave up tv. In lieu, we are reading a devotional and a few other books aloud. We replace something that we feel is a negative influence (or really just useless), for more positive experiences. More time together, spiritual growth, and marital growth. We are also donating the money we are saving (we canceled our service for two months) to a charity. It is our hope that we are able to continue to go without television and replace it with the habit of talking and interacting more often than we had before.