Lent

So the season of Lent started two days ago, it being Ash Wednesday. Of course the actual placement of various dates is entirely arbitrary - who will ever know when Jesus was born, or exactly what part of the year he spent those 40 days in the wilderness. What's important is that people take it seriously.

Yesterday I was having a conversation with a friend, and remarked on exactly this arbitrariness, that one should strive for spiritual closeness with God all year. But then he made the excellent point that Lent is the one time of year that believers set aside to refocus themselves on Jesus. Just as how in an earlier blog post I remarked upon the impossibility as a person of living one's life entirely with God in mind, so it becomes impossible to live one's year that way as well. And so these 40 days are set aside for just that purpose, to refocus oneself not alone, but with the community aiding one another in this endeavor.

So I was thinking last night, after returning home, why not try it? After all, I am a brand new believer. What have I to lose, by actually taking this time seriously? And so for Lent, I have decided to give up not one thing, but the category of those things in my life which constitute mindless escapism. For me, that means three things: video games, netflix, and alcohol.

I just took the first step this morning: deleting every game from my hard drive. That meant everything from large games like Fallout 3 and Oblivion, down to even the small Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis ROMs. That doesn't mean I took my discs outside and shattered them. That wouldn't do much good anyways, as everything these days is downloadable. But it does mean that I have to take the lengthy extra steps of reinstalling (or re-downloading) and patching these games before I can use them again, as opposed to the simple step of popping in a disc or double-clicking on an icon.

The next to go will be alcohol. That doesn't mean I won't have a beer with friends or maybe even grab an occasional one at the corner store. What it does mean is that I'm not going to be buying six-packs or keeping a bottle of hard liquor in my room, for those nights when I just want to get buzzed and forget about the world. I do put it in the future tense, however, as I do still have a bit of a bottle left, and I'm loathe to waste it. But I'm sure it will be gone soon enough. One thing at a time . . .

Lastly, my netflix billing cycle finishes up on March 17th, so I'll be putting a month-long hold on my account starting then. Again, I don't wish to waste money already spent, and besides, I have a couple Indiana Jones movies coming that a friend and I have been meaning to watch for some time now. However, as soon as the 17th rolls around, netflix is gone as well.

So there it is. This month will be an experiment. I often admit to myself and others that I lack the discipline to remove these crutches from my life, but maybe now, with the help of God and my community, I can do so, for at least a time. And here it is in writing as well, lest I "forget".

So what do I plan to do instead? Well, there's reading. I am fortunate to have two pastors giving me books on nearly a weekly basis, so that a bit of a backlog has developed. I also have yet to read about half of the New Testament, and all of the Old Testament. I of course have my cello. The weather is also getting warmer, meaning opportunities not just for busking in the park, but for actual exercise as well. I also would like to try my hand at writing songs; oh I always say it, and always get some ideas and then always quit before I barely even get started, but no time like the present to try again.

And then there's the most important issue: learning how to communicate with God. Even to my mind now it sounds silly. And yet I feel I'm a Christian today because God communicated with me. Maybe it's time to learn how to speak back, and then to listen. How can I merely dismiss this idea without having ever honestly tried it? So that is what this month will be for as well.