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Lent is one of those things that has become an Orthodox practice in the Church. Typically honored by communities that lean into the liturgical year in their worship, Lent is the 40 day period (minus Sundays) that occurs before Easter. What is it all about? And why should we be rethinking our spiritual devotion during this time?

As I thought about this series, I thought about where Lent began. The formalized Lenten period started all the way back in 325 CE shortly after the Council of Nicea. The council discusses that the 'fasting' normally alluding to Lent was really formally for new converts to repent before their baptism into the church on Easter Sunday. After a while, the fast became normalized as only one meal a day no earlier than 3PM (the time of the death of Christ) and no meat or fish. Once Pope Gregory I dedicated Ash Wednesday as the official beginning of the Lenten Season, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday were strict fast days. 
As the Reformation emerged, the idea of 'mortification' during Lent was viewed as taking away from the real purpose of spiritual devotion to the Gospel and repentance. 
Today, Lent has become another way of rethinking our eating habits, our dependence on our earthly things, and bettering ourselves in hopes of renewing our lives to become better people. 
Yet, there's a part of our Lenten commitment to giving up something or doing something for others that, at its' core, is for outward appreciation. It often seeks to look pious to others, to gain respect from others, to impress others with our difficult fast. 
Rather than being a period of time that prioritizes praising God, creating spiritual discipline, and remembering those without, we've turned it into another way of becoming just what Christ calls us not to be. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus calls us to pray in secret: in contrast to what the Pharisees at the time sought to do. Their dedicated fast and their eloquent prayers were in pursuit of the praise of man rather than the praise of the only one worthy: God. 

There is nothing that we can give up that would ever match the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Nothing. However, our small sacrifices can remind us of how much God can fill as we lay down our burdens at His feet. Not for the pleasure of boasting how much we can give up, but for the reminder of how much we have in Jesus Christ. 
God has compassion on His people, for He remembers that we are dust. He knows how we are made. He remembers us. He knows us. And in our sacrifice through this season, we are able to know and remember the compassion and love He has for us. 
In the song His Mercy Is More by Keith and Kristyn Getty, the first verse reads: 
What love could remember no wrongs we have done
Omniscient, all knowing, He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
What patience would wait as we constantly roam
What Father, so tender, is calling us home
He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
Lent is a period to celebrate God's mercy, God's compassion, and God's grace through the life of His son Jesus Christ who has modeled for us the true meaning of love in His very life. Whether fasting everyday until 3 or giving up chocolate for 40 days (minus Saturdays), let this time be a reminder of God's love and patience towards us; not that we merely suffer, but that we endure for Christ.