2011 Lenten Prologue
Its here! My annual post about lent.
Here’s the deal: Lent is the forty days up to Easter. It is tradition that one gives up certain things during lent to better appreciate the price that Christ paid on Easter. People will often give up sweets or coffee. One traditional thing to give up is meat. Typically, its anything excessive or indulgent. Anything that causes you to take your focus away from God.
This year, my list of things that I am giving up looks a little bit different than in past years. Monica and I have been watching what we’re eating, so there isn’t as much indulgent stuff to give up. For more on that, please read my previous post “Playing Catch-Up”.
For this year, I am giving up the following:
- Meat
- facebook & Twitter
- Playing games and surfing the web (mostly on my phone, but also on the computer or tv)
- Drinking anything but water (this includes coffee, Happy Anniversary Starbucks!)
- Sweets (I’ve mostly given these up already, but I am going to cut them out completely)
One of the often overlooked aspects of observing Lent is the mini-feast. According to tradition, Sundays are sort-of mini-feast days. This means that we take a break from our fast on Sundays.
What will I be doing instead of surfing and slaying monsters? Well, hopefully I will be reading and praying and spending more time with my family.
I am planning on keeping up with my blog during Lent. Please continue to check back and see how I’m doing.
Are you observing Lent? What are you giving up and why? Let us know in the comments!
