Lent

While I do not attend a church that practices Lent, some of my family members do, and a lot of the kids in my Torrey group do. This makes it hard to go through the season of Lent without thinking about. Why is it such a big deal? does it really matter if you give something up for 40 days before Easter? While the technical answer is no(i.e. you won't go to hell just because you didn't observe Lent) the spiritual answer, I think, is yes. The reason for Lent is explained much better by one of my friends here (that may have gotten it from one of his, I'm not sure :P) anyway, what I got from reading this was that the practice of Lent is good for your soul. Or at least, it's supposed to be. It often comes across to those, like me, from a more evangelical background as just one more rule to follow, it seems a little legalistic. However, when you take the time to stop and think about what it can really do for you, the practice of not just giving something up because you have to, but because you want to, because Christ did and that's the least you can do, it makes more sense.

Thinking about it on these lines then raises the question, at least for me, why don't we do that more often? Aren't we called as Christians to give of ourselves, give up ourselves, in order to follow Christ? I think that far too often it seems too easy to give up and take the easy road. So, with this in mind, I think I might just give Lent a shot. I'm not giving something up just to say that I did it, but because it seems like it could have some real worth. So, while I am struggling to make everything in my life work together well, it seems that giving up a little bit more of that sleep I love so dearly would be beneficial. Not just to say that I slept less though. I also want to start regularly going to chapel in the mornings too. I know technically Lent started on Wednesday, but it doesn't hurt to start now :P God help me to drag my lazy butt out of bed in the mornings :P

Reflecting

Today's Torrey session was on "King Lear". It was a good discussion, but it was also a Reynolds' led discussion, which made it even more enjoyable. The interesting thing was that we talked about being true to yourself. Most of the characters in "King Lear" do not know themselves, which is why the events unfold the way that they do. If Lear knew himself, and his position better he would not have tried to split up his kingdom. It turns out that Lear's daughter Cordelia is really the only one who truly knows herself, and she is married off to France for refusing to go along with Lear's idea.

In knowing yourself, you have to be willing and able to go to the extreme. There are two possible extremes, the good extreme and the bad extreme. Many of the world's leaders have gone to the extreme and found themselves, but have lost themselves along the way. Lennon was one such man. He killed many people and found out that he was a bloody tyrant. Cordelia, in "King Lear," on the other hand, went to the extreme, but the good extreme. She found herself and was made whole, rather than finding herself and losing some of herself in the process.

Happiness was something else we talked about. Not the fickle happiness that most people think about, but true happiness, joy. True happiness is finding the median, the average, it has to do with thriving in your circumstances, and not wishing for what you do not have. One person's average is not the same as another person's average, but it is your personal average that matters, not someone else's average.

That being said, the American culture thrives on "finding yourself." People say that if you can find yourself, you can be true to yourself, and thus be happy. What they do not realize is that because "finding yourself" requires a move to the extreme, it is not good to remain there. To find yourself is ok, but to focus too much on that, rather than on thriving where you are placed, will only bring dissatisfaction. Too much understanding is not necessary. Sometimes no understanding is needed, because the reasons behind something won't change the current situation, and could only bring about a longing for what is not. Reflecting is ok, but too much, or the wrong kind, is harmful.