Lent

Lent has been on my mind for a few weeks now. Easter is my very favorite.

   Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!   Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!   Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!   Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

My Lenten activities have never been really successful (if you can call spiritual exercises successes and failures). I usually last a couple days and give up, then am so buried in my overwhelming sense of guilt and hopelessness that I stop trying. Which ultimately makes me pretty grateful for Jesus' grace. But I suppose it doesn't work unless I start out with a plan in the first place. After all, how can I be crippled by shame unless my expectations are a little bit higher than normal?

I did a little research. (Stop shaking your head. You're not really surprised. Think about whose blog this is). I loved the Lenten videos at Relevant magazine, which I recommend watching. Spokane folk will recognize a familiar face, and I teared up listening to Jonathan talk about using our gifts to invest in the freedom of His people instead of their exploitation. Pretty amazing stuff. I also looked at some of the older ideas for preparing to celebrate Easter. I had considered giving up meat, sugar, alcohol, negative self-talk, and all of them at once. I think I'm deciding on a combination to help me with moderation (not one of my current strengths). Here are my ideas:

Prayer

Practice Liturgy of the Hours
Avoid guilt so that I associate prayer with joy and peace, not shame
Memorize, starting with my hero Donne.


Sacrifice

Learn, examine, and control my material excesses.
Start with abstinence from certain foods, and change as I discover where the excess really lies.

Charity

Reflect on the unique collection of my gifts and resources
Give them away (at least in a small way every week)

I'm pretty excited about it, actually. And on a side note, I think I might always schedule my February dentist appointments for Ash Wednesday. Sitting in a chair and having a dental sadist take off layers of skin with a pointy metal object and wonder why you're bleeding seems a good sort of appropriate for the first day of Lent. Somber. Painful.