What is Ash Wednesday? It is approximately 40 days before Easter (not including Sundays) and it is the start of the Lenten season. Some Christian faiths receive ashes upon their forehead (in the shape of a cross) as a reminder of our mortality, sorrow for sins, change and forgiveness. Lent then is when we are supposed to look at our relationship with God and see what behaviors we are engaging in that keep us from going deeper with that relationship and/or even having a relationship with God. When reading up on Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season, I would guess most of us do not realize all the 'traditions, rules and regulations' that religion has decided to throw upon this. I am not sure if this is why people have made their 'sacrifice' superficial or that we are just truly uneducated on what the Lenten season means. I highly doubt that 'giving-up' chocolate constitutes a 'true' sacrifice. Unless that is, chocolate holds you back from your relationship from God. I guess we can justify anything these days.
The 40 days of Lent can also be symbolic for the 40 days Christ was out in the wilderness/dessert. These 40 days for us is to be like our dessert: where we are to look to God. Go back to God and remember what it is like to fully trust in the Creator. It is a time for us to change. You may hear the words 'repent.' The meaning of Repent has changed from its original meaning in the Bible. These days’ people say repent and there is a connotation of sinfulness, shaming and unworthiness. Repent isn't just feeling bad for what one has done. Repent means to change direction. Literally change the way we are heading. It means to stop and go a different direction. In more practical terms it means changing the mind, changing the way you feel and changing your behavior. Repent does not mean feeling ashamed. Repent does not mean feeling bad about something and asking forgiveness and then continuing with the same behavior. Repent means change. Change the way you think, change the way you feel and change the way you behave. When you do this, the way you perceive the world also changes.
How does this happen? There are many theories. Read, study, pray etc. The best way to change is to actually start out by just doing the desired behavior over and over. Or for some of us, like myself, restricting that behavior. Eventually, we learn how to behave and the mind will follow. The change in behavior may not feel normal. We may not even know when we are engaged in the behavior we are trying to change, so becoming conscious when we are engaged in the behavior is the first step. It takes time: lots and lots of time. Once we are aware of our behavior, then we can stop it as we are engaged in it. Once we have mastered that, then we can anticipate when we will engage in that behavior and then stop it before it starts. This all sounds familiar to many who have had any course in psychology.
Those behaviors we ‘sacrifice’ for lent are to draw us closer to God. My guess is that many of the behaviors we have become accustomed to ‘sacrificing’ are for our own personal superficial benefit. Cutting out chocolate, alcohol, carbs, are all common ‘sacrifices’ we hear about people giving up. What is our true motivation for giving these up? Is it that they keep us from God? Or is Lent a convienient time for us to focus on bettering ourselves before spring break and summer vacations? My thought is that it is more for our own benefit than deepening our relationship with God. If it is about God, why are we so eager to resume those behaviors on Easter? If we were truly refocusing on God and those things that keep us away from Him, wouldn’t we want to continue with the absence of those behaviors that kept us from Him in the first place? What we forget is that when we truly engaged in the purpose of the Lenten season, God, it does benefit us. The benefit is more than we want it to be (superficial). The benefit is so much deeper and valuable than what we can imagine.
We also have to be extra careful to not replace the behavior we just ‘gave-up’ with another behavior that keeps us away from God. For example, many give-up social media networks for 40 days. Personally, I think that is amazing. But I caution, what are you doing instead of checking your FB accounts? Are you then using that time to watch TV? Read a book? What behavior can you replace it with that will draw you deeper into your relationship with God?
For me, I have contemplated what I was going to do for Lent. I have been struggling. I have been trying to be honest with what is keeping me from God. The saddest part is there are MANY behaviors or lack of behaviors that I can choose from. All I know today, Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, that I need to look to God to help and guide me. As of now, my Lenten ‘sacrifice,’ if you can call it that, it to take an hour a day Monday-Saturday to pray, meditate and/or contemplate with God. I will begin the practice of clearing my mind and try to ‘just be’ with the Creator for an hour a day. Then I will journal that experience. I am interested to see what happens. I love to be busy, so ‘just being’ will take lots of practice. There is always something that will try to draw me away from this time with God. I will need to be cautious, because something disguised as righteous may appear and I will be drawn to focus on that instead of my time with God. I will post my daily writings on a weekly basis. I will stay true to what I write during those times. I am excited and anxious at the same time.
