Content Warning: Christianity, Lent, faith
Today is a completely new type of post for me. I don’t normally talk about faith (not only here on my blog but even in my day to day life). I grew up Catholic & eventually we started going to church less & less as the years went on. Don’t get me wrong, I am still a believer. I am one of those people that has a rosary in my car that my grandma gave me to keep me safe & this year one of my goals was to start going to church again. But enough of this background on me & my faith!
Today is Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday opens Lent, meaning we are six & a half weeks out from Easter! Lent is the period of 40 days which comes before Easter in the Christian calendar. Beginning on Ash Wednesday (today!), Lent is supposed to be the season of reflection and preparation before the Easter Celebrations.
I grew up in a Catholic family, attended both Catholic elementary & high schools. Each year on Ash Wednesday, we would walk over to the church get blessed with a little cross on our foreheads & choose to give up something.
Lent 2019
The last few years, I have said I would give up a few things but have not stuck to those promises. I end up caving & beating myself up for not being able to keep my Lent goals. This year, I am determined to actually stick to my Lent goals.
So this year I decided to ask myself:
What Lent disciplines am I ready to take on this year?
My Lent Sacrifices of 2019:
- Candy & Popcorn: I may or may not be shedding a tear as I write this, my love for popcorn goes deep, but me & candy have this bond no one will understand. So this is going to be really tough.
- Keep My Room Clean: I am going to keep my room clean & organized for the next 40 days…
- Mindless Spending: I am notorious for spending money just because or thinking I have a reason to spend it. I’m challenging myself to only spend money on things I need & I mean desperately need. So basically no money should be spent in the next 40 days… Wish me luck.
- Meatless Mondays & Fridays: Well your not supposed to eat meat on Friday’s anyways, so I figured why not add one more meatless day in & make this a little more challenging…..
This is going to be tough. Lent is supposed to be tough. That’s why it calls for sacrifices. Wish me luck!
And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.
– Mark 1:13
Are you giving up anything for Lent this year? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for reading
xx cd
Uniquely Cass 
I grew up Christian as well (Baptist though) and am still practicing. But I never went to a church that really focused on lent when I was growing up. I work for a devoted Catholic family now and the first year I was working for them, I decided to give up chips/soda for lent. I dropped a lot of weight, but my faith wasn’t strengthened. So now the things I give up for lent give me more time to focus on God (that’s how my brother’s church does it, makes the stipulation that if you’re going to give up something have it bring you closer to God) Last year I turned off all electronics 30 minutes earlier than normal before bed and did a devotion or read my Bible, added in some extra prayer time too. I didn’t last the whole 40 days but it was a solid attempt haha!
It’s nice to see this kind of post on your blog. I don’t talk about my faith too much on mine either but when I do, I feel like I need to put a disclaimer at the top too.
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Thanks for the kind words, I was so nervous about posting this actually!
Awesome to hear you still practice it. I like how your brothers church does lent, that sounds like a way better idea then just giving something up!
Lent is tough I mean my goal for this year was to start going to church again & I’ve been doing so bad with that. I wanted to add something faith based in to focus on but honestly couldn’t think of something.
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I’m always nervous about posting religious stuff too. Like I’m more nervous about that and not posting things like how vulnerable I feel over my hair or love life. It’s so strange!
It’s hard to get back into the routine of it I think. Like I have a church that I love and I honestly only go twice a month. Or I’ll go two weeks in a row and skip one. Sunday is literally the only day I have all to myself with no work commitments and sometimes I just need that day to not see or interact with anyone lol even though I’ll still get up with my alarm at the regular time. it sucks that church has to take the hit for it but my energy levels need it.
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right, its so strange! I’m just gonna start biting the bullet & not think before I post, thats held me back from posting so many posts already!
It really is tough, sounds like you’re still on track, I can say it’s been a while since i’ve even attended a service.
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Oh yes! Over thinking posts is a major thing. Even though my blog is anonymous I still have that anxiety sometimes.
And thanks 😊 I’m definitely going to try to go this week. I just go as much as I can. Just start with one service and work up from there, if it’s something you want to do lol
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Good luck! I relate entirely to the first half of this post – growing up Catholic, Catholic schools, going to church less and less. I’ve never really written about it because I find it too intimidating to discuss on the internet so I commend you for sharing this! Every year I tell myself I’ll give something up for Lent but I don’t really challenge myself or stay committed until the end. I also fail to plan ahead for it, so by Day 9 if I haven’t had chips or something, I’ll just say I’ve given up chips. It sounds terrible now that I write it out lol
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Right, I think my biggest struggle was wondering how people would react, etc.
I definitely don’t judge, I have been doing that the last few years too!
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No need for disclaimers. Your faith is who you are. Don’t apologize for it.
I’m a Lutheran. I also grew up going to private school. Our Lutheran school was K-8 so that was 9 solid years of faith-based learning. Then I went to a public high school. Huge difference but I adapted.
Now we go to a Methodist church here because my wife told me I was Methodist. Haha 🙂 I still believe in the Lutheran beliefs more than the Methodist teachings but it’s all very similar.
For those that don’t know, the basic premise of discipline is that Catholics are the strictest of these three, then Lutherans are similar to Catholics but without “Meatless Fridays”, confessions, or rosaries. Methodists are even softer. They don’t even like to reference sin in their services, which frustrates me. I tend to enjoy the “forgiveness of sins” part of worship. Bottom line, we’re all Christians, just different sects within Christianity. It’s all good.
Anyway, back to the point…….it’s great that you’re sacrificing for Lent. Don’t feel threatened or wary of your beliefs. Stand up and be proud.
Thanks for listening to my sermon. 😉
Dutch
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Thanks Reid, this was definitely received well which I was worried about!
Thanks for the sermon Reid, it was awesome getting to know you more!
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