The importance of lent

The importance of Lent
Lent has many different views. Some people view lent as one of the most important parts of the year, others don’t really understand it, and still others think it’s unnecessary. When I was a tween my mom and my aunt decided we girls (meaning the two ladies I mentioned plus my two cousins and myself) were going to start doing lent. It was required so we kids participated and of course turned it into a contest to see who would cave and use glitter lip balm or eat chocolate first. (We lented really dumb stuff as kids). As I got older and lent was a choice and not a requirement I gave it up. Why bother? What I noticed when I dropped the lent ball was that Easter came and went without me noticing it. Oh sure, I went to the Easter survice and watched Risen on TV, but the magnitude and solidarity of the Easter weekend had left me. Then as I was speaking to other Christians I heard the same thing. Easter had become a long weekend and nothing more. So I decided to test it. I joined my mother in lent the next year. I lented my evening Netflix binging and read my Bible instead. Two things happened. 1. I spent more time with God, had a deeper conection to the events we were comemerating during the lent weekend. 2. I felt the loss of what I had given up. It was something enjoyable that I used to unwind after a long work day and now it was gone.
By the time Easter came it had my full attention and God became the center of it like He should.
Lent forces you to put the suffering of Christ and the glory of the resurection into perspective. Now. I’m not saying that lenting meat or coffee is anywhere near the same as how Christ suffered. I’m saying that it reminds us that He did suffer. That this is a time of respect and honor. That lent is meant to remind us of what God gave up and help us gain perspective.