Why I am not giving up anything for lent
Pancake day!
It’s Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day!) and Ash Wednesday this week, but even though I’ve been enjoying my fill of pancakes I have decided that I am not giving up anything for lent this year…
I know that might seem a bit controversial for a christian, but just stick with me here for a minute
Space to prepare your heart
I’m certainly not wanting to make light of that faith tradition in christianity, or the importance of practising the discipline of fasting. Sometimes choosing a season of restraint can be a really, really good thing. It can help us to empty ourselves, and create more space in our lives and our hearts, to encounter the hope in the Easter story afresh.
So if you are planning to give something up for lent this year, then great; fast with all of those intentions in mind around making more space for Jesus, the coming King.
Choosing self care this lent
But if like me, you already find yourself tired, thinly stretched, disappointed by circumstances or broken in this present season, and you already sense that you are just surviving more than thriving… why not make it a bit easier on yourself by choosing to prioritise good self-care this lent instead of fasting?
Because truthfully, I think that my life, in this season at least, is challenging enough already without also trying to give up any of the small pleasures that I love such as coffee or chocolate or wine or tv shows or social media as well.
And this year I really don’t feel like I need the ritual of fasting to remind me of my weakness, my humanity, and my desperate need for Him to break in; this year I am painfully aware of this already.
What does self care look like in practice?
Self care can mean all kinds of different things at different times, but let me give you a few examples of what it might look like for me this lent.
It might mean slowing down and resting well by getting some earlier nights. It might mean focusing on taking up some new helpful practices rather than laying minor vices like chocolate or caffeine down. And it might mean choosing to embrace doing more of those things that really feed your soul, like getting quality time with the people you love.
So, how about you? Could better self care perhaps be the right choice for you over the coming weeks too? If so, know that there is absolutely no shame in this choice at all. In fact right now, it may be the most spiritual decision you could make.
Because honestly, I think that God is far less interested in what you are or aren’t quitting, than He is in the health of your soul…
Heart sacrifices over spiritual rituals
In my experience it can be very easy to choose to do lent out of habit or external ritual, or perhaps even with some kind of false impression that it will impress others, or even God by demonstrating your super-spirituality as well.
But in Psalm 51: 16-18 King David wrote these words:
“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”
(Psalm 51:16-18)
Do you have a broken heart right now? Are you worn out? Struggling with sickness? Or do you feel bruised or disappointed by your present circumstances?
Well if so, maybe as this lent season begins, you’re actually right where He wants you to be; learning not to rely on mere spiritual rituals or external markers to ‘save’ you, but rather offering God the gift of a broken heart instead.
But in this space, will you hear and respond to His invitation to entrust the broken and shattered pieces of your life into His hands or not? Will you let go fully and trust Him to take them and to re-create them into something altogether different and new?
Because isn’t that what the core of the Easter story is really all about?
Death, followed by a glorious resurrection…
And in light of that, is it so surprising that following Jesus might occasionally involve some of those death & resurrection themes in our own lives too?
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