Question about Lent.

When one really gives up (or takes up) something for a full forty days (without whining) but does so from the heart, then afterward these changes remain. I still eat very little sugar (5 Lents ago) do Ti chi twice a week (4 years ago), Eat less chips and other processed food (3 years ago) and exercise three times a week aerobics and heavy lifting (2 years ago) and pray daily morning and evening (last year). This year I working at being more thankful.

plain jayne said:

I have never heard that version of Lent. Thank you for the explanation and that makes a lot more sense.

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I like to believe I learned that beneath the feet of the Messiah,

My Lenten fast varies a bit from one year to the next, depending on what I need to work on in my spiritual life. Sometimes, as Joyous Song has described, I pick a habit that I want to establish in my life, or a bad habit that I want to break.

Many years, though, I give up something that isn't a sin, a morally neutral thing that I choose to set aside for 40 days. (After all, if something is actually a sin, then stop doing it, and not just for Lent!) One choice I often make is a vegetarian fast. What I find is that the practice of being mindful of what I'm eating at every meal, and saying "no" to that grilled steak or that chicken teriyaki (two of my favorites!), is good spiritual practice for saying "no" to the moral things I really need to say "no" to. It's sort of like spiritual weightlifting: Lifting dumbbells today makes me stronger for that heavy package I'm going to have to lift 6 months from now.

I'll add that we're not supposed to whine about our Lenten fast. The Ash Wednesday gospel reading in our church's tradition is from Matthew 6, where Jesus says not to call attention to yourself when you're fasting. It's an important reminder for the season.