Lent

I copied and pasted a few paragraphs from a very good article.  The link is below if you want to read the whole thing and know more about the meaning of Lent.

I think it's a great idea to replace whatever you give up with a good thing that would lead you toward more self-examination and repentance.  That's why I liked this article so much.  It reminded me that it's not just about another means to give up chocolate or coffee and better myself physically, but to really see what idols in my life may have distracted me from Christ.

I hope you find it helpful.     

http://lentreading.wordpress.com/the-meaning-of-lent/

"The Lenten season is the spiritual equivalent of an annual physical exam; it’s a time to take stock of our lives, our hearts.  Keeping Lent, however, is potentially dangerous, precisely because of this focus on the heart. After all, it is much easier to read a book on prayer than to spend time leisurely speaking with our heavenly Father. It is much easier to fast from certain foods than it is to turn from idols of the heart. It is much easier to write a check than to spend time in ministries of mercy.

Consequently, Lent is easily trivialized. The point of Lent is not to give up chocolate; it’s to give up sin! Even with this warning, however, we need to beware of going from one extreme to the other. Yes, it is possible to completely externalize your Lenten observance that you end up trivializing it. Yet we need to remember that we are not purely spiritual beings.  God created humans as physical beings; we are psychosomatic creatures, a “nexus of body and soul.”  What we do physically has an effect on us spiritually—and we neglect this principle to our peril.

For example, it is unquestionably true that our attitude in prayer is more important than our posture in prayer. However, sometimes being in a physical posture of humility—kneeling in prayer—helps us get in the right frame of mind.  It shouldn’t surprise us in the least that there is a connection between the physical and spiritual; it simply reflects how God created us. That’s why, at the center of Christian worship, God gave us the sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper— simple physical rites involving water, bread, and wine, but rites that communicate to us the most profound of spiritual realities.

That’s also why, in the pages of Scripture and throughout the history of the church, we find many physical acts and postures designed to help us worship, to help us pray, to help us in our spiritual growth. The list could be quite long, such as standing for prayer and praise, the laying on of hands, anointing the sick with oil, bowing one’s head and closing one’s eyes for prayer.  Recognizing this God-created link between the physical and the spiritual, the Lenten season has historically included a physical element, specifically fasting and other acts of self-denial. We’ll deal with these more fully below."