What I’m giving up for Lent

Even though I essentially grew up going to church, Lent was never a big part of my upbringing. That is to say, I never went to church on Ash Wednesday and got ash on my forehead, and I rarely gave up anything for Lent. To me it always seemed more like a Catholic tradition than a Christian one.

In my recent years of attending The River, though, I’ve been more diligent about observing Lent and the practice of giving up something for the ~6 weeks between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. According to Wikipedia, this practice is meant to “replicate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ’s journey into the desert for 40 days,” though I always thought it was symbolic of what Jesus gave up in heaven in order to demonstrate God’s love for us on earth.

In previous years I’ve given up listening to music in the car, browsing the internet first thing in the morning, fantasizing about winning the lottery, and last year I gave up dessert for Holy Week, the last week of Lent leading up to Easter. Why just one week, you ask? If you know me you know that I’m a glutton for dessert, and I honestly didn’t feel like I could last 40 days without it. One week felt doable, and while it was difficult, I persevered (and seriously felt like Mother Teresa afterwards).

Fast forward to this year, and I thought, “this is the year…new year, new me. I can do it.” So I told my coworker, “I’m giving up dessert for Lent…it will literally feel like I’m dying, which I guess is the point of Lent.”

Without skipping a beat my coworker replied, “I think you should give up complaining, because it’s more pervasive in your life.”

OH SNAP….

And that’s when I knew I had to give up complaining AND dessert for Lent this year.