Lent?

Lent is a strange thing. If you aren’t someone that celebrates it, I am sure it seems very otherworldly to you. Lent draws from a time in the bible where Jesus was in the desert for 40 days without food and water. So, Lent is 40 days long. It honors the time between Ash Wednesday and Easter. It's a solemn time before Jesus is crucified. Growing up, I feel like I really challenged myself to give up hard things for Lent. I think I tried to abstain from chocolate, TV on the weekdays, playing on the computer, things like that. As I have gotten older I haven’t done that as much. But this year I tried to do that again. I gave up french fries, and eating food in my bedroom. Sometimes it's easy to eat dinner in my room when I am doing homework, or if I am snacking. But that's not really hygienic and I know I need to spend more time with my family downstairs. Less time in my room has led me to interact with them more. But I have to admit, I have messed up a few times. I have had french fries two or three times the past few months. It really bothered me. I felt super guilty about it. But then I had a friend give me some good advice. I definitely can’t pressure myself to be perfect at this. If I come out of Lent having less french fries, then I know that I can be self disciplined and this paid off more than just the 40 days. All of this might seem arbitrary, but it's more than just french fries. I wanted to see if I could actually achieve that.

Coming away from Lent, I think it can be more than what churches and officials have to say. It's not just following a set of rules and depending on the bible. It is about bettering yourself and seeing if you can use a certain time period to do that. This year, for me, it was self control.