Lent

Lent is one of the most important seasons of the church [Catholic] year because it is a time of penitence, an introspective period during which we take stock of our lives and our relationships to discover and change what we must to prepare for Easter and experience the spiritual renewal that comes when we engage in this type of “making right” activity. So, during Lent we each follow the example of Jesus by sacrificing our own will to the purpose of God.

Starting on Ash Wednesday, the Lenten season includes 40 weekdays and five Sundays before Holy Week and the culminating triumph of the Resurrection at Easter. (www.marypages.com/Lent.htm)

The Mormon Church to which I belong does not observe Lent, an observance that many christian churches follow. But after studying a little bit about Lent, I kind of liked the whole premise of having an introspective period and giving up something in preparation for Easter. Christ gave up his life for me, it shouldn't be that hard to give something back. I know I'm a little late in observing Lent fully, but I've decided to participate this last week, one of the holiest of weeks.

So what am I going to sacrifice this week? Internet browsing. I get so sucked in and before I know it a half hour has gone by and then an hour. Most times I sit down just to quickly look something up and before I know it I'm checking email, Facebook, blogs, following links. I'm going to give all that up this week except email. Since I don't have a cell phone, email is one way to keep in touch.

And instead of just merely giving something up, I'm going to replace it with something better . . . my scriptures. When the warm weather hits those are what tend to slide. But not this week. I'm going to become reacquainted and we'll see what new insights I've learned by Easter morning.