Although I am not a Christian, I have been drawn to the spiritual practice of Lent for many years and usually do “give something up” each year for Lent. I was first introduced to this practice in a casual way by my father-in-law, a lapsed Catholic, who would still give something up each year (usually alcohol). I have given up sugar and alcohol most years for Lent, and then in the last few years I’ve added in more spiritual practices like a daily devotional reading so that I wasn’t just treating Lent like a diet or a habit re-set (which it is almost a perfect length to be – 40 days is long enough to break some bad habits and start some good ones).
But this year I’m ready to go a bit deeper in my own practice. I’ll still be giving up sugar, simply because I always end up feeling healthier and better physically when I avoid sugar and now seems like a good time to remind myself of that. And I’ll still be doing daily devotionals and spiritual practices, but that has just become part of my year-round life now.
So my challenge this year is to “give up selflessness”. For these 40 days of Lent I want to give up:
putting off my own self-care until last
treating myself differently than I would treat others
holding myself accountable to standards I wouldn’t apply to others
making myself a martyr (of any type)
giving so much that I hurt myself
And more, I’ll probably discover as I go.
I’ll be sharing a few things as I go, and you can follow me on Facebook (Rev Sara Lewis) or Instagram (spiritualcarerevsara) if this journey is one you are interested in.