Giving up our time during Lent for our Lord
From Tom Drake, Johannesburg
Our parish priest is not a great believer in the “giving up” of the usual things during Lent. Perhaps he has a point; perhaps many of the “sacrifices” made are self-serving—diets to achieve weight-loss, abstinence from liquor because we know it’s not doing us any good anyway.
And if the savings achieved by these actions resulted in the benefit to the needy, then they would be justifiable—but how many times does this happen?
On Ash Wednesday our priest offered a different option—he suggested the “giving up” of some of our time to God, specifically to be spent with him, in Jesus’ presence —the setting aside of as little as 15 minutes per day for devotion to God.
It sounds easy, but it’s not so simple. No putting it off, no “I’ve just got to finish this report”, no “I’ll get there when the washing is done”, no “this evening when it’s quieter”!
A set time, to be adhered to, a promise to Jesus to be honoured. And in quiet contemplation—no babbling of set prayers—just sharing a little of ourselves with Jesus, and listening for what he has to tell us.
Our priest said that this exercise would bring us nearer to God, nearer to Jesus, and I believe him. 40 days of Lent—40 occasions to be shared with Christ. And if we’ve missed a few of those days, so what? Even one 15-minute period would perhaps be more than what we’ve been offering so far.
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