Reflection
Sometimes it is just good to stand back and think about where you are heading and why you have chosen that path. Today provides an incentive as it is Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of the Easter season. Many people will give up something for Lent. The usuals are chocolate, soda, meat or smoking. Others will take on something like exercise or visiting someone who is shut in. All of these things are meant to bring you closer to Christ and for some the focus on that one thing and the sacrifice is a moving spiritual experience. I have never practiced the act of giving something up for Lent. My usual statement is I will give up self denial. Not exactly a spiritually moving sacrifice.
My issue is that I do not think in terms of giving up one single item. For me, being a parent is like practicing Lent all year long. There are many things that I would like to get or things I would like to do but because I have put the welfare of my wife and children before me, I do not even consider acting on them. As the typical American middle class family, we try to make sure that our kids are given every opportunity to experience the opportunities we never had. It becomes a challenge to find ways to get them to places and pay for the ever increasing costs. The one thing I have decided that I cannot afford to let pass by is my own health. I have made sure that I exercise at least 4 time per week for 30 minutes and if some family need pops up, it waits until I am finished. And even the act of getting into shape is not completely selfish. My family has a history of heart attacks and by working out, I lessen the possibility of becoming a statistic.
I guess I practice the art of sacrifice all year long and cannot see giving up something for a six week period as bringing me any closer to Christ. Maybe some time in the future I will come to a different understanding of the Lenten period but for right now, I will continue to give up self denial for Lent. Not that I really practice self denial. It is just something the get a reaction out of people when they question what you are doing for Lent.
Icool
Cobb
My issue is that I do not think in terms of giving up one single item. For me, being a parent is like practicing Lent all year long. There are many things that I would like to get or things I would like to do but because I have put the welfare of my wife and children before me, I do not even consider acting on them. As the typical American middle class family, we try to make sure that our kids are given every opportunity to experience the opportunities we never had. It becomes a challenge to find ways to get them to places and pay for the ever increasing costs. The one thing I have decided that I cannot afford to let pass by is my own health. I have made sure that I exercise at least 4 time per week for 30 minutes and if some family need pops up, it waits until I am finished. And even the act of getting into shape is not completely selfish. My family has a history of heart attacks and by working out, I lessen the possibility of becoming a statistic.
I guess I practice the art of sacrifice all year long and cannot see giving up something for a six week period as bringing me any closer to Christ. Maybe some time in the future I will come to a different understanding of the Lenten period but for right now, I will continue to give up self denial for Lent. Not that I really practice self denial. It is just something the get a reaction out of people when they question what you are doing for Lent.
Icool
Cobb
posted by Cobb at
7:50 AM
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