Time After Time

"This year for lent don't give up chocolate or cake; rather give up your time so you may spend it with He who is Divine."

I posted this as my facebook status on Ash Wednesday 2010.  

I then shortly saw it re-posted on an old classmates status. 


And he later had this to say:


In my mind, that's the point. Not that I've really ever observed Lent (the churches I've been part of haven't ever done anything with it), but I think the point should not be to give up drinking pop or the internet or "chocolate and cake" but to focus and remember the sacrifice made for us. I'm not sure, for myself, giving up high fructose cornsyrup or the world wide web would do anything to focus my mind on Christ's death and resurrection.

Being unfamiliar with Lent, I'm not sure how the tradition of picking something to give up got started. But there has to be more to Lent than that, at least in my mind.

I however am oh so familar with lent, Fish at Long John Silver's on Fridays with the family, as well as not eating school lunch (tuna or peanut butter) on those days.  But the kicker was, what are you giving up this year.  A toy, video games, tv, the list goes on. But why are we "giving up"?





The point of giving something up, is so in the absence of that thing, you can devote more time to focus on Jesus. The "sacrifice" we make is to help remind us of the sacrifice Jesus made. SO when it's hard not to watch tv or eat cake you focus on Him. I've come to see lent as an opportunity to do something more and not something less, as many people now see it as I have to "give up" something.

Growing up I could remember saying, why don't we do more instead of do less?  Go and help someone, go and serve, do something in the name of Jesus you would not normally do.  But now I pose this statement.

"This year for lent don't give up chocolate or cake; rather give up your time so you may spend it with He who is Divine."

And in that time perhaps it will be revealed to you to go and help someone, to pray for someone, to serve someone.  I don't know, but I'm sure it will end up with us showing other Jesus.  It's easy to give something up, I've given up my 360 since December 24th but that's because it broke.  But I've done it.  I've "given up" video games cause I wasn't in the mood to play them.  I think we have missed what Lent is supposed to be.  A sacrfice, to remember the price.  

And I'm not saying to not give up something, but if you do, make it something hard.  Something that is a sacrifice.  Something that will make you struggle.  And in that remember what Christ did for you and then go further with it and share that love with another.

That's what Christmas Lent is all about Charlie Brown.