Adding something for Lent

So Lent is upon us. It is this time of year when most Christians look to giving up something as a way of remembering the sacrifice that our Savior did for us. It’s a wonderful time of year to help us refocus on something that we will never ever fully appreciate. For God’s plan to be that his son would die for all on the planet to live is truly extraordinary. My cynic side sometimes thinks that giving up a few beers for a couple of days doesn’t seem to quite compare….

This year, there seems to be an uptick of people giving up Facebook and Twitter for the 40 days of sacrifice. I find that one quite interesting with all the research that has been done showing how too much social media is bad for us…. Of course, it seems most of the things that people give up anyway, when not done in moderation, is actually bad for us: alcohol, smoking, sweets, fast food, harsh language, etc. But giving up social media seems to be on the rise. It seems people are starting to figure out what the research is already telling us: too much of being plugged in is a bad thing. The more we desperately we want people to “like” our comments, or “follow us”, the more likely we are to suffer from anxiety, depression, and stress. These symptoms lead to us not taking care of ourselves; lack of exercise, eating poorly, lack of sleep, etc. The next thing you know, we have made ourselves sick by simply caring what others think about what we post!

Besides reminding ourselves of the sacrifice, the other part of Lent is trying to establish positive behavior. Numerous times after the 40 days of giving something up, I had noticed I had “kicked the habit”, and saw no reason to going back to doing what I was doing! It was a wonderful feeling that would lead to me trying to determine what I would give up next.  At one point, I can remember giving up social media for 40 days not even during the Lent period. I’ll be honest: this was a tough one for me. However, at the end of the time, it made me appreciate how attached I tend to get to social media, and I established consistent Sabbaths throughout the year after that.

This year, however, I came up with a different idea. Instead of giving something up, why not intentionally start doing something….. In other words, why not intentionally read the bible to your kids for 40 days straight. Or why not say, “thank you” at least once a day for 40 days. Or why not call at least one person in your circle of friends each day, just to see how they are doing. Maybe it would be simple as writing an email once a day to different people to encourage them. The point is to do something productive, instead of being sacrificial, as a means of saying “thank you” for what Christ did for us. In other words, to pour back into someone’s life as a slight example of what Christ has done for you.

What do you think? If you could do something for 40 days to say thank you, what would you do?