Y.I. Wednesday: Why I Choose to Participate in Lent

Chocolate on Wikipedia

I celebrate Lent for the reason Lent exists.

I am grateful for the sacrifice's made for me, my sins and my existence.

 but...

you may not be religious...

So, could you still consider Lent?

Maybe you can....

because,

Did you know...

Lent is about sacrifice...

and can be a time (and way) 

for you to appreciate (by temporarily giving up)

things you have, or do, which many others don't.

Think about it...

I'll be honest...it's not easy...

but in the end, my family and I feel that it's well worth the sacrifice...

(If you decide to do it, and if this is your first Lent experience, go easy on yourself and don't try to give up things like coffee and chocolate-ask me how I know.)

What I gave up last year for Lent

More about Lent

What Was I Thinking?!?!

I gave up chocolate for Lent.

Please, someone, tell me what I was thinking.

Ever notice that when you decide to give something up, it almost never fails, you see it everywhere?

I sat down to watch T.V. tonight and YEP, YOU guessed it! A Lindt chocolate commercial. 

And so my teenage daughter came in from the kitchen when she heard the commercial and told me that I just couldn’t seem to get away from it. (She did this with a cruel and pitying chuckle; easy for her-she isn’t participating in Lent…Grrrrrr.) 

She’s right though, it's everywhere I go.

Even a quick trip into CVS requires a strategic plan and an enormous amount of willpower. I went there yesterday and  had to be sure to  avoid certain isles since the Easter candy is out in full force.

Then when I had a sore throat this week, my guy scooped me a nice bowl of ice-cream….but since it was a mixed ice-cream container of chocolate and vanilla, he had to separate the vanilla from the chocolate….

I am not sure who had it worse, me or him…..he gave up ice-cream for Lent…

All I can say is this: It’s going to be a loooooong  40 days. (Maybe not as long for me as for my little kids’ will be without Wii and the computer;)

I realize now that giving up chocolate will mean no chocolate syrup on my ice-cream (or IN my ice-cream), no chocolate chips in my pancakes, no chocolate chip cookies (which happen to be my favorite) and no chocolate candy.

Chocolate is in so many things.  It’s in ice-cream, hot cocoa, candies, and even in some specialty coffees.

Well, this is what I chose. 

I chose to make a sacrifice, to honor and appreciate.

I know what I am honoring…but I also know what I will appreciate- a nice big chocolate Cadbury Egg at Easter and then finally the freedom to eat as much chocolate as I like!!!..…;)

Through this, I've realized that when I can’t have something, I want it even more!

Something else I've realized is how much I depend on chocolate as a crutch.

If I’m grumpy I grab a piece of chocolate. If I am hungry and don’t want to wait till dinner I will grab a piece of chocolate. If I am feeling happy, I will grab a piece of chocolate. If I am tired of the chilly, wet weather, I will make hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies....

Chocolate is my friend.

Oi.

I will miss you Chocolate… 

See you in April…..

Truly,

Amber

Sacrifice

Today is Ash Wednesday A.K.A. Lent

What does Lent mean to you? Do you celebrate it?

I’ve listed some links that briefly (and not-so-briefly) describe Lent.

Practices during lent can be summed up into one word: sacrifice. And regardless of what faith you are or where you're at in your spiritual journey, we can all relate to sacrifice and the need for it.

Without giving something up we would never be able to fully appreciate what we have or what has been sacrificed for us. 

This About.com article describes what Lent is and who is most likely to celebrate it (the link has Christianity in its title, but lists several different faiths. (And if you are uninterested in learning about Lent, feel free to skip to the bottom of the blog.)

http://christianity.about.com/od/holidaytips/qt/whatisashwednes.htm

Other sites of interest regarding descriptions of Lent:

http://www.crivoice.org/cylent.html

http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Feb2002/Family.asp

This next link is an great visual of the symbols used, or that can be used, during Lent to signify certain things:

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent/symbols.html

If you aren’t into Lent, and prefer not to give anything up, I urge you to at least take a few moments to appreciate the simple things that you experience every day, like:

• Clean water

• Clean air

• Freedom

• Love

......Because it's so easy to take for granted things we do (and have) everyday....when not everyone is so lucky.

Sacrifice, which is the passion of great souls, has never been the law of societies.”

Henri Frederic Amiel quotes (Swiss writer known for his masterpiece Journal intime, 1821-1881)

 

Truly,

Amber