Thus to the dust we will return

Thus to the dust we will return

There is a time in every year where we remind ourselves the truth that we are less than perfect. We have once been redeemed by the blood of He that was fully human and yet fully divine. Lent is a period when we tell ourselves that all that we hold are not rightfully our own but the bestowal of the One. It is the time when we teach our mind and body that by giving up something that is a source of enjoyment, we discipline ourselves to fit in with the divine plans.
Lent is the season of the church year that follows the Epiphany Season. It is a time we set aside each year to remember the love of God that is poured out through Christ Jesus on the cross in His death; and His defeat of death. It also is about sin and the maker of sin, rejoicing and being wholly beaten in Christ’s death. And most importantly it is about resurrection that brings Eternal Life to you. This season has a penitential character, a solemn nature to it. This is to help us remember to be repentant and remind us of our sin and our mortality.

However, there are some who see this as a period to torment oneself. They see this as an opportunity to drive a bargain with God. There are also some who want to seek approval from others, in their devotion. It may be worth reminding ourselves that Good Friday is thus named, because it is the happenings of that day that saved mankind from the clutches of sin as visited upon us by the evil one. This is why it is not called Sad Friday. So while penitence is the call of the day, torment is most definitely not. Simply because two wrongs do not add up to be a large Good. The Lord asked us to remind ourselves of our mortality, and the sins we have done. Not to kill ourselves.
When you give up a comfort that you love, you are sacrificing an enjoyment. It is a way to tell ourselves that we are all subject to temptations and it just takes our devotion and willpower to escape from these. Lent is observed in almost all Christian traditions in various forms whereby some abstain from meat, dairy products and fish, some from meat and dairy products and some by not eating an entire meal or two the whole day. There are others who abstain from something they otherwise do the entire year round. This could include abstaining from drinking alcohol, and not doing any leisurely activity. Abstinence from something or the other forms the back bone of lent this way. The aim of lent is to make the body starve from something which in some way or the other is perceived as a luxury to the self or which is unavailable to someone else.
This is more in absorbing the message than in presenting it as a ritual that the true essence of the lent fasting lies. Let it not be just a deal with the Divine. Let it be a way to teach ourselves the truth of our very existence.
Let there be light in all our lives.