lent: week one.

 {photo by Amanda Green Bottoms via Mary Swenson}

First off, thank you for all of your comments on Monday’s post. When it was all said and done, we wound up donating an additional $95 to the American Red Cross. It feels like not-enough, but it is something. Let’s continue to offer up the people of Japan in our prayers. Distance, I think, can too often make us feel detached from tragedy. I don’t want to be detached.

I promised weekly updates on my Lenten journey, but I don’t want this to turn into a “Look what I did for Lent” post. So, I’ll try to keep today short and to the point.

Not eating sugar is hard. I have more of a sweet tooth than I realized, not for candy, necessarily, but for cookies and Coke. I miss those things, and last Thursday and Friday — the first couple of days of Lent — were especially difficult. Otherwise, though, I’m beginning to wonder if this is how we were really meant to eat: carefully and intentionally. I do feel better throughout the day, though I suppose I could attribute that to the fact that I’m now packing my own snacks (apples and string cheese in the morning; cashews and strawberries in the afternoon) and drinking more water.

I also have discovered other, better ways of getting natural sugars into my body. I’m eating an inordinate amount of fruit, and Simply Lemonade and Welch’s grape juice both only use natural sugars, so while I still try to mostly drink water, the occasional amount of raspberry lemonade almost helps me forget about Coke. I’m eating better in the mornings. Breakfasts have included vegan, gluten-free and sugar-free raspberry scones (recipe here) and Ezekiel toast with apple slices.

After seven days, though, I’m not sure that sacrificing sugar — or any other type of food or activity — is what Lent is all about. I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the Pharisees, how they got so wrapped up in their knowledge and practice of food laws (and other Mosaic laws) that they missed out on what was really important: God in the flesh. Love. Forgiveness. I don’t want Lent to become that for me. I don’t want to get so wrapped up in what I’ve given up or in the rules that I’ve made for myself that I ignore the real meaning of Lent, this act of lessening myself to make more of Him. The daily sacrifice I’m making should point to the Savior, not to my own capabilities or my own goodness. If anything, it should be a reminder of how unworthy I am of God’s grace, but how He continues to bestow it: a constant stream of daily blessing.

Giving up sugar has been hard, though it probably shouldn’t be. I have a little bit more energy throughout the day. My face is clearer. I feel better. The benefits, I can tell, will far outweigh the difficulties. This seven-day experiment has proven, though (and maybe this is why Lent suggests sacrifice) that I am weak, barely capable of ignoring the Girl Scout cookies in my freezer. I am in desperate need of a Savior who can identify with my weaknesses and rescue me from them.

How is your journey through this season of Lent going? Any tips for me as I continue to let go of sugar? Feel free to leave a comment or include a link to your own blog post about Lent. I’d love to read what you have to say about these 40 days.