And I’m going to ramble a bit to see if anything interesting comes out.
If you’re Protestant, the idea of special Lenten practices may or may not mean anything to you. Me, I’ve always* been a giver-upper. I’ve given up sweets during Lent during college, and periodically since then (though Lent during my third pregnancy doesn’t really count, since the whole gestational diabetes meant no sweets in any case), and some of the motivation (maybe a fair bit) now is a matter of weight loss, though that wasn’t the case in college, when I was much thinner than now.
(“Always” referring to my adult life; I grew up Lutheran where that wasn’t really a practice.)
Was it about penitence? No, not really. I’m not entirely sure why I did, back in college, except it seemed like the right thing to do, was a bit of a challenge, and, as I’ve got a bit (OK, maybe a lot) of a sweet tooth, it was a sort of “sweets detox.”
But even so, I still get a bit annoyed when I hear people saying, repeatedly, that “giving something up” is no good, because the right thing to do is adopt a new spiritual practice, whether it’s “get up earlier to pray in the morning,” or the ever-popular “say the rosary while driving into work.”
And — look, if you can do it, then great. If you have a great prayer life, but kick it up a notch during Lent, good for you. Or if go to daily mass, or read the Bible, good job. Pat yourself on the back.
But, whether it’s sweets, or facebook, or something else, it’s still perfectly legitimate to give something up! Giving up sweets isn’t just about the vanity of fitting into a smaller clothes size, but about health, and God does want us to take care of our health. Giving up excessive internet surfing makes time for more productive activities. And the mere act of practicing self-discipline is a good thing, even if there isn’t a specifically “prayerful” component to it.
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