Lenten Sacrifice Suggestions?

Lent starts very late this year, but I was prompted to start thinking about the season while reading a blog post at Abigail’s Alcove.  Abigail is trying to focus on strengthening a sense of love and charity for all people, and is considering praying for Osama bin Laden as part of her Lenten discipline.

Last year, I made two Lenten resolutions: one religious, one secular.  I tried to commit to using my free weights every day and to giving prayer a chance every night.  Frankly, I’m not sure which of those was more of a failure. To protect my pride, I’ve only blogged about my frustration with the one pertinent to this blog.  (Reflections on trying prayer were posted in two parts).

When it comes to secular endeavors, I’m planning to stick with physical fitness, since I have no upper body strength and have a tendency to get winded walking up the four flights to my dorm room.  My considerably more athletic brother has recommended the 200 Sit-Ups program to me, and I’m going to give it a shot.  It’s a really clearly laid out program you work through at your own pace, and I like everything to be as quantified and benchmarked as possible.

When it comes to a religious endeavor for Lent, I’m at sea.  Christian readers are welcome to recommend a task or practice I should adopt during Lent, and I’ll be open to experiment.

If atheist readers want to suggest any books/activities that they think Christians should try to better understand our side, I’ll write up those suggestions in a separate post.

And if anyone wants more information about the season, Mary’s Aggies wrote an omnibus post to give you an overview.

Thanks for your thoughts!