Positive Things to Do for Lent

Do you remember many Lents ago when your mother said: “Don’t forget to think about what you’re going to do for Lent, and make sure you do something positive, too.”

Of course, Lent is all about prayer, penance, and almsgiving. But, I’m convinced that’s never enough. Lent definitely is a time for repentance. Yet, it’s also a time for reaching out for God’s love and working with all our might to become better persons, better Christians.

Jesus taught his disciples what they should not do, but he also taught them what they should do, and that includes doing positive things that effect the spiritual growth of ourselves and others. And for this reason, I’ve reminded all the grownups in church this Lent to resolve daily to do at least a couple of positive things that will help them to grow in faith, hope, and charity and to facilitate that growth in others. I urged them to do things that would make them better people and the world around them a better place to live.

I’ve compiled a list of positive things you can do this Lent.

1. Resolve to perform one random act of kindness. Make coffee in the morning for your partner, hold a door open, let someone get in line first, refrain from cutting off the guy driving like a jerk in the car next to you, or do somebody’s else’s chore for them (and don’t ask for payback).

2. Eat well. Yes, we give up our favorite treats like chocolate or beer but…how about deciding to eat the foods that are good for you, even if you don’t like them?

3. Enlighten someone’s day. Send an uplifting thank you or get-well card, email, or phone a family member, friend, or acquaintance that shows you’re thinking about, and praying for them.

4. Don’t pray more, pray better. For most of us, it’s difficult to add more into our day. How about putting more into the prayer times you’ve already got in place? Light a candle, sit in a more attentive position, or change to a more secluded atmosphere so that you can really be alone and focused on God.

5. Go through your closets and select some clothes or toys to donate to the poor, a nursing home or children’s’ hospital.

6. Call up a neighbor and visit with them on the phone or better yet, take them a homemade treat like rhubarb pie, and spend some time with them in their home.

7.. Rise and shine. Get up 15 minutes earlier. Even if you’re dull and sleepy-headed, spend the time in God’s presence. Then go a step further and tell him how much you love him.

8. Spend at least one weekend or evening volunteering during Lent. Serve a meal at your local soup kitchen. Visit the elderly. Stock shelves at a food pantry.

9. Instead of going out every Friday during Lent to a different restaurant for a fish fry, stay home and cook a simple meatless or soup meal. Use the money you saved to go online and select a gift from the registry for Charlotte House.

10. Mark your calendar and attend your parish retreat. Holy Family invites you to attend our retreat on Sunday March 24 from 10am to 2pm. The theme is “How to Live a Joyful Life.”

As I placed ashes on foreheads, this was my blessing prayer: “So let us be marked not for sorrow, not for shame, not for false humility or for thinking we are less than we are but for claiming
what God can do within the dust, within the dirt, within the stuff of which the world is made. May Jesus create a clean heart in us, and put a new compassionate heart within us.” Psalm 51:10.