Lent

Dedicated to any oblivious Protestants.

What? sacrifice, self-denial

When? 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday

Who? Any Christian

Why? preparation of the believer—through prayer and self-denial—for the Holy Week.

I was not a Lent observer until 2 years ago. I probably didn't know what it was and if I did, I thought my Protestant-status afforded me a get-out-of-jail-free card since I'M NOT CATHOLIC. I've learned that Lent, however, is not just for the Catholics!

According to my sources (Wiki):

"The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert, where, according to the Bible, he endured temptation by Satan. The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer—through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial—for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ"

My big Lenten sacrifice this year is chocolate. Oh...and sweets. Initially I just decided to give up chocolate. Everything was going fine and well; I had been successfully resisting my afternoon, post-school chocolate cravings but then began replacing chocolate with fat-free frozen yogurt and blackberries instead. As I realized late last week that medicating with fat-free frozen yogurt was defeating the whole purpose, I decided it was time to bid sweets "adieu" (save the honey I put in my plain yogurt). Now when I get a hankering for sweets, I just binge eat on grapes and walnut halves :P