Lent

I meant to write about this last week, but I was busy giving up vices.

In all seriousness, while I'm LDS and we don't really practice lent, I have been since one of my good friends introduced me to the idea when I was 18. He was catholic and would give up alcohol every year for 40 days. While this was quite a feat for him, as a mormon, I always thought he was crazy to go back to it on Easter.

Typically lent is a time for fasting, prayer and other acts of penance for forty days. The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigor during Lent are prayer (showing a love towards God), fasting (showing a love towards self), and almsgiving (showing a love towards neighbor).

Today, many people give up a specific vice of theirs, and try to add something that will bring them closer to God, then they'll [try to] give the time or money spent doing that to charitable purposes or organizations.

I am even more simplified than that. I just give something up for the forty-day time period. (You'd think the beginning of the contest would have been me giving up happiness for forty days - but alas, happiness is not a vice in my mind.)

While I still give a double take at the lady behind me in the supermarket sporting the ash cross on her forehead, I am reminded of that certain vice I'm giving up that season. But I wonder if I'm alone in my community of [mostly LDS] readers. As a religion, we fast and pray once a month, so maybe you don't find it necessary or worth while. So I ask you:

Ever thought about participating?
(Please don't indicate as to what you give up. I already judge you.)