Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 5, 1995 TAG: 9503040046
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But since I wrote this before Ash Wednesday, it's hard to make a sure prediction. The adage that "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" must have originated for me.
Tradition would have us "give up" something for Lent. For 40 days before Easter (not counting Sundays), fasting or other forms of self-denial - in particular to benefit others in need - were encouraged by the Church.
Recently, though, many churches that still advocate the observance of Lent have proposed a slightly different approach to doing penance in preparation for the celebration of Christ's Resurrection.
Rather than negatively give up something, why not affirmatively DO something?
I have to admit when I first heard that suggestion my knee-jerk reaction that it was a "feel-good, politically correct" way of watering down the whole idea of acknowledging our alienation from God, sin and the value of penance.
But the more I thought about, the more I liked it. Rather than focusing on ME, what I am giving up, and what a pious fellow I am for suffering so, I can concentrate on doing something for someone else.
Rather than fasting, volunteer at a soup kitchen. Rather than giving up reading romance novels, take up writing letters to the black sheep of the family. Rather than giving up television, agree to be secretary for the PTA.
In a sense, of course, such active responses to the season do involve sacrifice. But they force us to think about our obligations to others rather than turning completely inward.
That, too, fits in rather nicely with the spirit of the season for Christians. Christ's sacrifice is portrayed in Scripture as a positive act on behalf of others, not an act of self-absorption for his own benefit.
For us mere mortals, however, a combination of self-interest and sacrifice is probably the best we can hope for.
This season what I hope to be able to pull off is a rededication to getting the amount of exercise I need.
That may sound like a purely selfish "sacrifice" for Lent. But it's not. It's really for my wife and children.
A heart attack last May should have been all the motivation I need to get exercise that will help me drop weight and keep the ticker healthy.
It may be Freudian suicide to admit, but if I didn't have anyone but myself to worry about, I'd have little impetus to change my lifestyle.
I'm not afraid of death. If I were fatalistic enough, I'd just say "whatever will be, will be" and not worry about it.
Instead, I will try to focus on the needs of family who wish I would stay around for a few more years. That means commiting myself to exercise this now middle-aged body so it won't self-destruct.
I owe them the effort to prolong my life to benefit, in some small way, their lives.
Just this week, I was talking with an acquaintance about how I still sometimes miss my own father, who died almost a quarter century ago. It's not an obsession, not an everyday occurance, but every now and then something happens to remind me that in an ideal world he would still be here to enjoy his grandchildren and to give me - and them - his love and guidance.
Though it's hard to imagine, I know my own children must have some similar need of me. And I have an obligation to them.
So this Lenten season, it seems appropriate to do something that will benefit me because the greater good is for someone else.
Of course, I won't enjoy it.
by CNB