Lent at last

Deary me it's been busy the last few days. Manageable busy and I feel like I've achieved a lot this week, but still there's a lot to do. I was hoping to get a bit time off this weekend to recuperate, but there's been no sign yet! However, this does mean that not only have I not done any blog reading in nearly a week, but I've also neglected to tell you about my resolutions for lent.

Image Source: Facebook

You can read a bit more about lent here in a post I wrote last year when I decided to go vegetarian and give up chocolate and takeaways. I think I managed it with reasonable success, although I did have a fair few Sundays off!

This year I've decided to do pretty much the same thing - I've given up chocolate (as my chocoholism has been getting progressively worse through my degree, oops!) and gone vegetarian. I haven't bothered with giving up takeaways though as I have so few anyway. I thought about giving up takeaway coffees as well as I get through a fair few of them and it's draining my already small budget, but I've already limited myself with my New Years resolution to only have one takeaway coffee a week and that seems to be suiting me so far. As they say, a little bit of what you fancy does you good!

Have you given anything up for lent? If so I'd love to hear what and why.

Alex

A little bit of lent

So after the excitement of Shrove Tuesday, Pancake day, Mardi Gras or, my personal favourite, Fat Tuesday, Wednesday marked the beginning of lent with many Christians and indeed non-Christians across the world heaving a collective sigh as they give up something the enjoy for the next 6 and a half weeks.

But what really is lent and why do we put ourselves through such a test of willpower?
In it's simplest form Lent marks the forty days in the lead up to Easter and represents the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by the Devil before starting to minister. Today, alongside it's religious foundations, lent has become a symbol for self control and preparation in the run up to Easter and spring for both Christians and non-Christians alike.

But the big debate is, when does lent end and do Sundays actually count?
Well, the honest answer is that it depends entirely on you! Some people believe that lent ends at Sundown on Maundy Thursday, whilst others believe it continues right through until Easter Saturday. Likewise, a lot of people argue that Sundays's aren't included as they are a traditional day of celebration and feasting. So, depending on what you decide to do lent can range anywhere from 38-46 days!

This year I've decided to go vegetarian for lent and give up chocolate (a bit of a big deal as a self-confessed chocoholic) and any kind of takeaway (an occasional but extravagant and necessary treat). As always I'm going to keep it up until Easter Saturday and probably continue on Sundays as well, meaning I'm in for the full 46 days! That said, I may allow myself one Sunday off, purely in the interest of eating up anything I've given up that won't keep until after lent has finished you have to understand!

So what are you giving up this year, that is if you are? And no cheating, giving up something you don't do anyway doesn't count!!

Finally, I'm going to leave you with something someone I follow on twitter posted earlier in the week.

"If you give up something for lent just so you can loose weight, then baby Jesus does crying."

Do I agree? On the one hand, yes it is a religious tradition and deserves to be respected as such, but on the other if it helps people to better themselves, prepare for spring and put a little perspective back in their life then does it really matter? Either way you are continuing (or at least attempting to continue) the tradition and giving a nod to the true meaning of Easter, no matter how small that nod may be.