‘Here we are again,’ I thought. It was the night of Shrove Tuesday and I was lying in bed, my stomach full of pancakes and my head full of thoughts. ‘What am I going to give up this year for Lent?’

I’d been thinking about it during the weeks leading up to start of Lent but I never really decided on what I was going to do. And the pressure to pick the PERFECT thing to give up for the next 40 days was mounting.

 There were the classics; chocolate, social media, coffee, my pillow (the list goes on). Or I could branch out a little bit; give up something like complaining or sleeping in.

I felt like this was just the repeat of last year, and the year before (and the year before that). I was so distracted by the ‘thing’ that I forgot the reason why!

So, we are just over 3 weeks into Lent. How are you going? Maybe you’re crushing it or maybe you’re struggling a lil or maybe you’re like “Lent, oh that’s happening now….” Wherever you are at, it is fine. Don’t feel like you need to be somewhere you’re not. If you feel like Lent is not quite going to plan for you so far - don’t give up, it’s not too late!

Whether you feel like your Lent is going well or not so well, let’s get to the core of all this ‘giving up things’ business:

1)      First of all, why DO we give up things for Lent? The 40 days that we fast reflect the time that Jesus fasted in the wilderness which we read about in Matthew’s Gospel. Lent is part of the journey we take each year towards Jesus death and resurrection which we celebrate on Good Friday and Easter Sunday (and beyond!). Our Lenten promise is not just about ‘giving something up’ but turning our lives back over to Jesus.

It’s not about what we ‘give up’ or what we ‘do’ but who we are doing it for.

So, what does that mean for us? Well, if what we ‘give up’ for Lent isn’t about how hard, or impressive, or …whatever, that means that we can chuck out this pressure of having found the ‘PERFECT THING’ to give up.

2)      Ask yourself, what is my relationship with Jesus like right now and what is in the way of us being closer?

Lent is a time to re-centre and refocus our lives on Jesus and what we ‘give up’ can lead us to this. And because we all have our own personal relationship with Jesus, it’s going to look different for each of us! So if finding time to pray is hard, then giving up or limiting time on social media or Netflix could be a good sacrifice to make to draw closer to Jesus.

Or maybe you feel like your life is too ‘self-focused’ so you commit to 3 acts of service every day or find a way you can serve in your community. Either way, the focus isn’t on what you gave up, it’s on how to get closer to God.

I have a friend who gave up the snooze button for Lent one year. Not because he thought it was a really cool thing to give up (definitely not cool, I am 100% attached to my snooze button…) but because he wanted to 1) build more discipline into his life and relationship with Jesus and 2) live his life more intentionally by getting up the first time his alarm went off instead of snoozing it for another 8 minutes of sleep.

Like my friend giving up his snooze button, it didn’t matter if the ‘thing’ he gave up for lent was a big deal or a small deal - what mattered was that he gave it up to build his relationship with Jesus.

3)      Jesus sacrifice was, is and forever will be perfect and complete. There is nothing we can do, nor need to do to earn His love for us or His approval. Lent was never about finding the PERFECT thing to give up but about returning to our PERFECT God.

So, remember this Lent – your relationship with God is unique! He just wants to have a relationship with you as you are. And he sees your sacrifices and surrenders, no matter how small or great you deem them to be. He wants you to know who He is more and more, not just for the sake of it, but so He can do amazing things in your life!

Lastly, if you feel like maybe you didn’t give that much thought to what you gave up for Lent - DON’T WORRY YOU ARE NOT A HORRIBLE PERSON. Maybe you gave up doughnuts and your like, ‘wait, is this really leading me closer to God???’ YES!!! You don’t need to have written a whole journal entry at the start of lent about how your ‘sacrifice’ is going to lead you closer to God. You can always take whatever you gave up (or took on) and give it to God today and ask Him to be a bigger part of your life this Lent and beyond!