This Lent, Give Something Up By Taking Something On

On Ash Wednesday, instead of giving something up this Lenten season, consider taking on a new habit…

Today is Ash Wednesday. You probably already know that, and you’re probably still recovering from a giant stack of pancakes from Shrove Tuesday. Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent in the Christian church, and Lent is the 40-day period between today and Easter.

Growing up, I thought Lent was only for Catholics. It is not. It is a Christian practice, practiced in the Catholic church as well as many Protestant denominations, and it’s something that the church has practiced for many, many centuries.

Vox put out a nice piece warning Christians not to over-secularize the Lenten season, and it’s a helpful reminder. Lent is not Christian New Year’s and a chance to set some lovely six-week resolutions. It’s good to get healthy and improve your life, and those can be God-honoring things, but Lent isn’t about self-improvement for a Christian any more than Christmas is about presents. Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before Easter, the pinnacle of the Christian calendar. Lent is about what God has done, not what you are doing.

But this is not a piece about the history and meaning of Lent, nor Lenten theology. You can find those answers better stated elsewhere. Let’s talk about personal Lenten practice.

Many people consider giving something up for Lent. I’ve tried it, and I’m not good at it. It’s hard to give up something I like — I realize that’s the point— but the thing that really gets me is that I usually just replace whatever I gave up with something else.

Give up video games? Oh hey, extra Netflix time! Give up sweets? Looks like I’m going back for seconds. You get the point.

Maybe I just need better self control, but I’m just too sneaky for my own good and I always find a loophole. It works much better when I give something up by taking something on.

Taking on a good God-honoring habit is a way I’ve found to force myself a positive choice. And if I add something positive to my slate, I often have to give something else up anyway to make time or room.

If it works for me, maybe it can work for you. Here are five ways I’ve considered taking on a new habit this Lent and why I think they can work.

1. Read an hour a day.

Or a half hour, if an hour feels like too much. Pick a specific time when you’ll do it, so you get into the habit. Maybe first thing in the morning, or right after work or school, or a wind-down before bed.

And this doesn’t count Twitter or Facebook or any other social media feeds, and it doesn’t even mean the usually-frustrating newspaper or the yeah-but-I’m-learning-stuff articles online.

Put your phone away. Leave your tablet in the next room. Turn your computer off (what’s a computer?). Grab a real book if you can, or at least turn off your notifications and what not if you must read electronically.

I’m not even sure it has to be the Bible or even a Christian book. Just dive into your reading list. Learn something new. Let your imagination wander. Wrap up in a blanket, grab a hot chocolate, and enjoy the quiet stillness.

2. Add regular exercise into your daily routine.

Do it every day for 40 days of Lent. Even if it’s only 15 or 20 minutes, add it to your routine.

The most common thing people give up at Lent is some sort of food. Sweets for some, coffee for others, maybe carbs or something bigger as a pseudo six-week diet plan. But when you give up some sort of food, don’t you just get excited for cheat days and the end of Lent so you can enjoy your treat again? Lent becomes a race to wait it out, and you don’t end up adding a good habit anyway.

Add some exercise instead, and add it as a replacement for that snack or treat you crave. Instead of that extra cup of coffee waking you up in the morning, 15 minutes on the bike might do the trick. Instead of an extra helping or dessert, go for a 20-minute walk. You’ll feel good, you might skip some food anyway, and you get to spend some time in the fresh quiet air, away from all your technology.

3. Practice a Sabbath.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be Sunday, and you might not have time to do a full-day Sabbath. That’s fine. Start with one afternoon a week, or pick an evening. Try a half-day.

Life is busy, but it’s not that busy. You can make time for a Sabbath, I promise, and though it’s not a daily practice, you’ll be amazed how you’ll feel that Sabbath break as you go about the rest of your week.

Put your work away. Turn off your phone and other devices and get rid of all those pesky notifications. Take that sticky-note to-do list and stick it in another room. Life is not just one endless checklist you’re always behind on. Stop and breathe awhile each week. God will meet you in that stillness and reward you in your rest.

4. Give a dollar a day to something worthwhile.

You can afford $40 in the next six weeks. That’s only $6 a week… like skipping one specialty coffee a week. If you can afford more, make it two bucks a day, or five bucks. Set it aside and use it for something good.

Your dollar can buy a sandwich from McDonalds for the homeless person on the corner. It can buy a song on iTunes to encourage a friend. It can buy a cup of coffee for a coworker in a tough season, a cute card for a neighbor, or a flower to brighten someone’s day.

A dollar online can provide 10 healthy meals for a child in need. A dollar can encourage your favorite writer or artist on Patreon. Venmo someone a buck and tell them to get an ice cream cone.

Use your dollar for kindness and bless someone else with what God has blessed you. And if you feel like it, spend more than a dollar on some days.

But save at least one dollar every day for someone else. Make a daily effort to use what you have to be kind to someone else.

And if you end up skipping a couple other luxuries along the way to get there, all the better.

5. Spend a block of time daily with your significant other or your kids.

Spend real time together with someone you love. Commit to an hour every single day.

Have a conversation. Go for a walk. Play a game and laugh together. Finally go to the zoo or go on that date or do that thing you never seem to make time for.

And don’t get cute and call this an hour of Netflix with the family. Do something meaningful. Spend memorable time with someone important.

If you’re single, sub in your roommate or a close friend, or go through your contacts and call up an old friend you haven’t talked to for way too long. Reply to that email you’ve been staring at in your inbox for weeks.

If this means rearranging your schedule so you actually have time together with your family, good! If it means deleting a show off the DVR queue, that’s ok! Maybe you’ll have to give up another habit, a worse one, to replace it with positive time. If you haven’t noticed yet, that’s happening on all of these.

Lent is not about you. Lent is about you and God and a chance to get your heart ready and right before Easter.

But you are part of that, and you can do your part to practice God-honoring habits along the way. You can take some of the excess out of your daily life and replace it with something God wants more of.

This Lent, I’ll be giving something up by taking something new on. Maybe that will work for you too.

Whatever you do, may it help you find your way toward the Gospel this Lenten season as we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is waiting to meet us if we will make time and prepare our hearts for him.

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