Lenten Sacrifices.

I'm sure this isn't the first blog post you've read about giving up something for lent, and I'm almost positive it's not going to be your last. Sometimes, I feel like lent is a chance to break up those New Years resolutions that we all put on our ourselves, the eat better, be a better person, workout more resolutions. Considering that my New Years goals were pretty broad, this is sort of true for me, too.

Since lent is really based on a religious practice, a lot of people think we're crazy to give something up for 40 or 46ish days (depending if you go by Sundays are the exception philosophy), but it's to focus on the ultimate sacrifice that He gave. One that makes me teary eyed each time I think about it in my pregnant hormonal state. Since I am pregnant this year, and don't know exactly where I'll be in 46 days, I wanted to be an easily bendable ish sacrifice for myself.

My mom would give up sweets nearly every year. She never made us give up anything, but once I got old enough to realize what lent was really about, I always toyed with the idea of giving something up. Last year, I kind of mentioned on the blog about going vegetarian 2 days a week. This year, I'm going to be following the same routine, although trying to step it up. Since I am pregnant, if I get a craving for a big juicy steak, I'm probably going to indulge, but Mondays & Wednesdays will be vegetarian nights in this house. Honestly, only my mom and I are on board with this idea, and I'm sure the men in the house will complain about it each Monday & Wednesday. I'd really like to try to be a vegetarian the majority of the next 46ish days. If I eat meat, I'm going to try to only do it at dinner time, which shouldn't be too hard.

Being a vegetarian is something I toy with quite often, mostly because I don't agree with how the animals are treated that I'm eating. Ideally, I'd love to only eat meat products that I know where the came from, and be a vegetarian in all other cases. Hopefully, some day I'll get there.

In addition to going meatless as much as possible, I found a devotion that's specifically about lent, and will be reading that each morning. Moreso that just sacrificing something, I want to really focus on what this time is all about in my relationship with God. I've been pretty good about reading the devotions from my woman's Bible, but I want to focus on these next weeks and what that means to me. I want to grow closer in my relationship with God and be the best Christian and follower of Christ that I can be.

Tell me:


What are your feelings about lent?
Are you giving anything up this year?