It’s Lent. Actually, it was yesterday, but to me, it’s still today. (See this post to understand.) So yes, today was the beginning of the Lent season, that season of giving things up for God. The way I always understood it, the point of the whole thing was to take up a sacrifice that would be difficult in order to keep one’s mind on the ultimate sacrifice that Christ made. I’ve never - even when I was a practicing, bible-beating Christian - participated in this. It wasn’t mandatory in my church by any means - in all the years of Sunday School, it was never even discussed. But I always found it intriguing.

Tradition holds to a fast of some sort, but many people give up a favorite activity, or a bad habit, or whatever. And some, of course, don’t go the path of giving up, but just giving - charity work, money to a good cause, volunteering, more prayer time, whatever. (That’s like a sacrifice of time, I’d say.)

I’ve been thinking about this, and I find the idea of a spiritual fast of some sort intriguing. It’s certainly demanding. Doing some sort of fast for 1-3 days before each new moon is something that has occured to me in the past, and something I’m considering even more now that sacrifice is on my mind. Due to certain medical issues, a full fast would be inappropriate in my case, but day or three of dietary restriction wouldn’t be all bad, and might actually be - gasp - spiritually enlightening. On the other hand, perhaps all I’ll be enlightened to is my ravenous hunger. Seriously, it shouldn’t be too hard to drop to a fruit and vegetables type fast for one day - sundown to sundown, if I could get some fruit and vegetables that were decent on the day before the fast, of course. Where I live, that can sometimes be a joke.

Just a thought. For anyone participating in Lent, good luck!

No Comments »

No comments yet.

Leave a comment