You’ve had Dry January, Red January, Veganuary? How did that go?

Maybe you kept Movember and gave up shaving your top lip?

Do you still involuntarily shiver at the name “Ice Bucket Challenge”?

There are so many “challenges” going around to raise money or awareness that I wonder how many people have forgotten there is a forty day period starting this year on Ash Wednesday February 26th. Traditionally called Lent it is the 40 days of fasting, prayer and preparation for Easter observed by millions of Christians around the world.

I have still not decided how I’m going to mark Lent this year: I am of the school of “doing something extra”, maybe some more prayer (really difficult for Vicars). I don’t believe that God wants us to be miserable so I don’t see the point of just giving something up for the sake of giving it up. If I’m going to give something up, I think it’s important to give something extra: use the money you don’t spend on chocolate or sweets to give to charity.

Whatever you choose to give up, it’s actually a chance not just to get slimmer or fitter or a “better person” but to really appreciate the good gifts that God has given us. Like they say, you miss them when they’re not there. It’s also a chance to remind ourselves who is really in charge: not our needs, but God, who holds all of our souls in life.