It's that time of year again! The time when people decide what they are going to give up for the next 40 days. This is almost like a 2nd chance at your New Year's resolution that you've already failed on - but this time you only have to try and stick it out for 40 days. Giving up things for Lent has become a trend in that last decade. I blame it on the wonderful film "40 Days and 40 Nights" in which the gorgeous Josh Hartnett, who is a sex addict, tries to give up sex for Lent. I can't remember if they discuss it in the movie, but I'm pretty sure he is not doing this for any religious reason - nor does he do any of the other things one is "supposed" to do that accompany Lent. I see the movie as an exploration of how many different things one film can do with boobs and have it not be considered pornographic. I especially like the dream scene where he flying and all of the clouds are, you guessed it, boobs! There is also the famous scene where Mr. Hartnett fondles Mrs. Butterworth at the breakfast table. I may or may not have felt slightly violated while watching that. A friend of mine in college tried to give up his sex addiction for Lent once. If I remember correctly he succeeded but that is only because he relied more heavily on his other addictions - drugs and alcohol.
The true meaning of Lent is to purify oneself in preparation for "renewal". Many argue that this cannot be accomplished by what has now become the mainstream idea of Lent or "Traditions of Man". That self-denial is not the way to create the desire to do God's will within you. This is not an argument that I will be getting into here, just some information on the season that I thought I'd share.
I have many friends that are giving things up for Lent, whether for religious reasons or just to jump on the bandwagon of "bettering themselves." A lot of friends have posted openly that they will be giving up alcohol, which in turn has caused me to seriously consider drinking more to make up for the alcohol industries loss on this. Some are giving up fast food, eating out and I have one friend who every year gives up eating after 8pm. I'm always impressed with his willpower since our jobs often don't make this easy. I do have some friends who are going a different route with Lent this year. Instead of giving things up they are deciding to do things or take notice of their blessings. One has decided to do a gratitude journal while another has decided to donate to charity via https://philanthroper.com/ a site that allows you to donate $1 to a different charity everyday. In the end what are you really losing? $40? Is that really losing something if you know that you've helped (even if it seems small) 40 different charities? Plus, everyday when you log onto to donate you will be thinking about why you are doing it. Really it would be "giving up something for Lent" since you would be giving up 1 of your dollars everyday, but more importantly you would be giving back to the world. I personally like the idea of giving up time or money to charities rather than giving up fast food, alcohol, or sex. Now there are people our there who go the opposite way with the sex thing and are giving themselves up for Lent, but I just call them sluts and they typically do it all year long.
If I were to participate in Lent it would not be for the religious reasons that others do so I essentially could just do it anytime of the year that I felt like it and for as long a period as I wanted, which sounds a lot like a New Year's Resolution without restrictions. So will you be giving up or giving something for Lent? Are you still deciding what to do for Lent? As I said, I may just drink more...
