Fast, Pray, Give

For Lent, I was considering giving up sweets and alcohol, until a friend of mine on Facebook posted a link to this great Lent calendar. Each day, there is a quote and then suggestions for the day's fast, prayer, and gift. For example, yesterday the quote was: “Easter is the demonstration of God that life is essentially spiritual and timeless.” — Charles M. Crowe And then the suggestions:

Fast from scheduling anything after work today.

Pray: Waste some time with God today. (Preferably not during work hours, i.e. don’t get fired!)

Give yourself a break today.

Some days, the Give portion suggests putting some money into a Fast-Pray-Give bowl, and at the end of Lent, you donate the money to a charity. On Sunday, the suggestion was to fast from lunch, pray for those in poverty, and give the money saved from fasting from lunch.

I like this calendar a lot because it has something new everyday, and they say to follow it, but if you don't stick with it on a particular day, just get back on track the next day. It provides a nice focus for me, rather than the general "I'm giving up sweets" which gets somewhat easy after a few days. If you're still thinking about your Lenten discipline and struggling to find a good way to be introspective, I would highly recommend checking out this calendar and following it with me!