On Instagram today, an author that I follow posted this: “I’m giving up for Lent.”
That’s it. That’s the whole tweet.
This seems like a poem to me. I’m giving up. I know it’s supposed to be funny and it is, but also, I think it’s really good theology.
Nearly a year ago, I wrote about the Year of Jubilee and how it would not be like a big party. Um. Yeah. This year has NOT been like a big party. And it occurs to me that a year is a really long time for a year of jubilee, for not harvesting and using what you have! A LONG time, even not in a pandemic, to give things up!
Another colleague commented that she felt like this was just a long year of Lent. That how could it be Lent when it was STILL Lent from last year? I feel this deeply.
Giving up is a good plan. It’s a real solid spiritual practice, because it is a practice, and it’s hard for most of us to give up. Letting go is way more palatable (see Frozen). But “letting yourself go” is more like “giving up,” and no self-respecting woman would ever do that.
Except we’ve got to.
Maybe just for Lent.
CHICKPASTOR 