For as long as I can remember Lent and or Easter has been my favorite liturgical season. I'm not sure if it's the music or that it's close to my birthday; it's probably because I find it to be a time of healing. Lent is the start of my new year. Lent is another time of preparation, but in a different way. We are no longer waiting for Jesus, rather we are walking with him while he is preparing for a change in his and in ours. This is a time of drawing closer to God and realizing what is standing in our way of deepening our relationship with the Creator. The stigma with Lent is that we give up something so that through our suffering we might grow closer to God or to be in solidarity with Jesus. People often remember to give something up but they don't always think about the why. The best advice I've ever heard "giving something up" is that we should think of it as "What are you going to do in order to grow in your relationship with God.
So if you are in the practice of giving something up, think about why you are going to giving something up and how will that benefit your spiritual journey.
