A Time to Build Up

As a school-age child, my friends and I would eagerly await the Lenten season. We would consider thoughtfully what we would each give up for Lent. My list often included giving up one of the five C’s: candy, chocolate, cookies, cake, or chips. Junk food as one item encompassed too many things. Why give up many things when just one would do. Then there were the things that we tried to get around, like giving up vegetables, (that we could group together), or going to bed on time or chores. We’d still be giving up something, but it wouldn’t be too painful!

We spent so much time focusing on the minute details of what we had to give up, we neglected to see the bigger picture, which is what Lent is really all about. Lent is about awakening your spiritual understanding, self -sacrificing and preparing to embrace the word of the Lord, the world of the Lord.

Eventually it dawned on me that focusing on the details was actually the way to force yourself to focus on the bigger picture, your beliefs and how you could increase your awareness of your relationship with Jesus. Being aware forces you to be active rather than passive in your faith. It requires you to be a participant rather than a spectator. Being a spectator is necessary sometimes to listen and learn from others.

Lent gives you the opportunity to participate in the process enabling you to not only see and hear what is going on, but to feel the faith that surrounds you as well. Take the time to look around you; to take a look at where you've been, where you are now, and where you want to go from here. Lent is a time to build up our faith. We must always have faith, in ourselves, in others and in the word of the Lord. Lent is a time for us to reflect, not on what we are giving up, but on what we are getting instead.

Joan Shisler