Lend a hand for Lent

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February 22, 2012 • Gwen Stephen, Editor  
Filed under Top Stories

An opinion

I don’t consider myself to be a very religious person and I’m not known to be “in tune” with my spirituality. However, growing up in a Catholic family I’ve been encouraged to embrace the meaning of Lent and to look beyond the Bible’s practices and better myself for not just the entirety of the season, but my life.

When I was younger I’d give up chips, cookies, or making fun of my brother (never both).

What I didn’t realize until I was older was that though this season in Christianity is to remember God’s sacrifice, that didn’t mean I was supposed to give up something for 40 days and 40 nights and call it quits.

As I grew older I learned that it didn’t matter what religion you did or did not follow. Lent was about empowering yourself to become a better version of who you wanted to be every single day. As American Youth Foundation quote’s, you are to strive to be “[Your] own self at [your] very best all of the time.”

I now think of the Lenten season as an opportunity to do something good rather than give something up.

The Plain Dealer published an article on ideas to consider this next month. One idea combined both giving something up, and giving something back. The idea stated that if you choose to give up coffee for Lent, you should take the money you’d spend at Starbucks each morning and give it to the Cleveland Food Bank, or a homeless shelter.

For the next 40 days, other than not eating meat on Friday’s, I’ve decided to do something, in the scheme of things, rather small, but I know in some way for someone it will make a big difference.

Each day I pledge to compliment as many people as I can (before bystanders see it as sarcasm). To me just a simple compliment from another person can make my entire day better.

“Hey, Gwen I like your hair,” or “that article about Lent was really cool,” (wink wink).

I believe that it’s the small, and many times unheard and unseen things that make life special.

So, if you’re atheist, Christian, Arabic, Jewish, Buddhist or agnostic think of this as a chance to bring a smile upon someone elses face and hopefully your own.

Tags: Gwen Stephen, Lakewood High School, lent

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