“Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he has promised us, eternal life.” 1 John Chapter 2
Last night, in answer to this question of “what are you giving up for Lent” Six year old Will answered without hesitation, “computer games.” Considering how much Will loves computer games, I was impressed and I asked him why. Will responded “Because it’s a promise to God. You make a big promise in Lent to show God how much you love him” Whatever they are paying the Sunday School teachers obviously isn’t enough.
Not to be outdone his brother Jake chimed in. “I am giving up telling lies and not getting up in the morning.” “You can’t give up something that you should never do in the first place. I doesn’t work that way.” I responded.
But isn’t that what I always do? Every year, at the beginning of Lent I ask myself. “What am I going to give up this year.” This is what Lent has become in my family and I sense in our culture as a whole. Lent, which is meant to be a period of meditation and and reflection to prepare us for the new dawn of Easter has instead become some sort of excuse to do what we should probably be doing all along.
So when I say that this year for Lent I am going to try and workout more and give up candy am I making a promise to God as Will wants me to do, or am I just making a promise to myself? Considering God’s promise to all of us, maybe I can make a better promise to him.
Leave a Reply +