It’s in the Way You Fall

Down into bed. It’s in the way you cry
When he’s not looking.

Last Monday was the sucks because people can’t shovel their sidewalks and I can’t leave my house on time. While on my transit dash in the morning, I slipped on some ice and fell on the pavement, scratching my hands, ripping my pants and gashing my knee. Total running fail. At least I caught my bus.

The theme of this past week has been “going without” so here’s what I think about that.

Lent is a Catholic practice. I’m not Catholic, but I participate in Lent and have done for several years. As far as background goes, pretty much the only thing I know about the basis of Lent is that it’s to emulate Jesus’ forty days fasting in the desert. In the more liturgical circles I’m sure there’s a drawn up list of things you’re not supposed to have during lent, but I have a feeling some of the stuff on that list wouldn’t affect me much anyway (sex, alcohol, coffee) so I always just pick something that I love and then stop having it for forty days. This year was pop and chocolate, which is quite hard for me.

In general I think the outside impression is that Lent is a sucky and outdated practice imposed yearly on its believers to be a huge killjoy, as is religion’s purpose. Well as I said, I’m not Catholic and so, my participation is voluntary. It’s a very useful and wise practice even for the unreligious, and here’s why.

Here in the middle-class developed world, we have everything we need. Of course it’s easy to take all our comforts for granted. Lent deems that we go without something frivolous for 40 days. For me, this is good because it’s out of the ordinary, and when I am forced to experience things that aren’t normal for me, it changes my thought pattern. Where I would normally go to the store and buy Smarties and eat them mindlessly, I now am forced to think about it. On one level, it makes me think that I don’t ever need chocolate (like I often say), merely want it. On another, it makes me think, I find it so hard to go without one kind of food for a bit over a month; what about the people who go without a lot more all the time? This on its own doesn’t help others per se, but it does make me realize that my life is blessed. As I realize this, it makes me happy to help others. I don’t know if Lent works this way for everyone, but it does for me.

The problem with Lent is that its purpose is lost on people sometimes. A few weeks ago it was Dana’s birthday at work and I had to turn down my chocolate cupcake even though it looked wonderful and delicious. Everyone tried to get me to have it anyways despite Lent. I knew they wouldn’t understand, so I didn’t go into my reasons for doing it and I think maybe they were a bit displeased. I guess it’s strange for a protestant to randomly partake in Lent. Perhaps I should do it at another time of the year… but I doubt that’d change anything. Still, I think that “going without” is healthy sometimes.

Another example is this weekend at the youth retreat. On the second night at was about 4am and I just couldn’t get to sleep. The room was cold, I was really thirsty and the girls were talking in their sleep. I was feeling rather sorry for myself until I made up my mind to see the bright side of the situation. I decided I had a lot to be thankful for, because most of the world doesn’t even have a bed to sleep on at night. I probably wouldn’t have had this thought at home, so forgoing some of our luxuries once in a while is a good thing.

Anyways, speaking of the youth retreat, it went well and was very fun. Lots of good conversations went down so that’s always great!