What are you taking on for Lent?

"What are you giving up for Lent?" 

Asking the question this time of the year yields any number of responses. among them, chocolate, candy, soda. I joined the later category a number of years back in trying to give up soda for the 40 days of lent.

I didn’t make it half way.

While i think giving things up for Lent is admirable, I can’t help but think we’re asking the wrong question.

Instead of wondering what you’re giving up for lent, I’m more interested in what you’re taking on.

Let me explain.Too often, it seems that the point of giving something up for lent is simply to have given it up. The point of giving up soda for 40 days was little more than just to have done it. To have achieved the impossible. If I’m honest, a little breathing room inside the grips of my belt would have been a nice secondary result. But the point, it seems, in giving something up is often just to have gone 40 days without it.

I want something deeper.

I want something life changing

Instead of focusing on what we're giving up for Lent, let's focus on what we're taking on. We're all on this journey of life and we all understand that we are different today than we were two years ago. Life has happened, our circumstances have changed... we have changed. Just as we're different today than we were two years ago, we can be certain that, in two years, we'll be different than we are today. We are all on a journey of becoming and we have a choice. We can either be deliberate in our journey or we can go with the flow and just become whoever we become. The question is, who are you becoming?

Who do you want to be in two years? In six months? In forty days?

What can you do today to help you become that person?

I'm reminded of a familiar story when Jesus is walking along the Sea of Galilee. He sees a handful of fisherman and he issues an invitation. 

"Come, follow me"

In order for the fishermen to be Jesus' disciples, they needed to leave their boats and follow. The point, though, isn't in what they left behind. The point is the new life they were walking into. They needed to give up on their life as fishermen to take on their new life as disciples of Jesus.

so what are you taking on this Lent?

Let's get practical.

I have three children; ages five, three, and one. My kids are incredible. I love watching them grow and develop. I love watching as their personalities begin to take shape. My wife and I love to dream about the people my kids will grow to be. My kids are funny, smart, adventurous... and loud.

Really, really loud.

Our home is filled with the noise of children, sometimes laughing but often fighting, bickering, and complaining. And, in the midst of the seemingly never ending fights, my patience often wears thin which, as many of you know from your own experience, doesn't help the situation at all.

This Lent, I'm going to try to make a change

Instead of giving something up, I'm going to use the 40 days to commit to taking on patience. To taking a deep breath. To staying calm when the temperature in the room is rising. Because, when my kids look back, I want them to remember a dad who's patient, not just a dad who gave up soda once a year.

This lent, I'm taking on patience

What are you taking on?



Photo: oleg.skl