I want to capitalize on the tangible, on things my kids can hold in their hands and point back to. “Giving something up for Lent” is a concrete practice that gives shape to the particular period that is Lent.
My family didn’t “give things up” for Lent when I was a child, so this year I’m going to choose to do that as a way to focus on the season. A friend of mine who usually gives something up for Lent is choosing not to this year because she wants to make the season’s focus “grace,” rather than what she is doing without. Both of these strategies are tangible and equally point to Jesus. Both point to experiencing our God.
As the kids and I discussed what we might want to give up for Lent, I appreciated the pause. I don’t want the celebration of Easter, Jesus rising in defeat of death and our sins, to come without prior consideration. I have two kids who are giving things up for Lent and two that are not. One is choosing no sugar snacks after school and the other is choosing no video games. Another was going to give up lemonade but because forty days felt like eternity to her, decided she might start in Kindergarten.
In giving up something for Lent these are the things I would like my kids to experience:
- I want them to know that life is not all about their comfort.
- I want them to know that sometimes you sacrifice things you like for the thing you love.
- I want them to feel the gap between the life they are living and the life they were created to live.
- I want them to feel temptation, label it as such, and practice resisting it.
- I want them to learn to live with discipline.
- I want them to learn to make choices.
- I want them to choose to look beyond themselves to their God.
- I want them to choose to follow Jesus, when it feels good and when it doesn’t.
- I want them to remember that His sacrifice wasn’t easy or comfortable.
- I want them to remember what this season is about and what Jesus did for them.
I don’t think this experience is going to make my kids “better” than the next person in God’s eyes or ensure that they will choose to follow Him on their own. But, as their mom, I also don’t think it’s going to hurt to do every possible thing I can to try and train their gaze to look to Jesus. I acknowledge that in every moment we should be looking to God, but my kids don’t know my God like that yet. So in training their eyes to see, I’ll fight for the tangible things they can point back to that were specifically set aside for Him.
This is the free life, where I will choose to acknowledge that there is a gap between God and us and seek to recognize that by His blood, we can live free. That’s the message I will fight for us to see today, tomorrow, forever.
