No, not the usual “give something up”, but 2 other things.
The first was our church encouraged everyone to read the same Bible verses each day for Lent. The verses are gradually moving through the Bible – starting at Genesis – and there are notes written by different people in the church. They were given three days to write for and it is very interesting to see the different styles. They quite often tell one a lot about the person writing as well as about the verses they are writing about.
The second is “#40acts” which is something that I picked up from Stewardship which I use occasionally. The idea is to do 40 acts of generosity on the 40 days of Lent instead of giving something up.
I suspect it is aimed at younger people than me as it uses Twitter and Facebook and other similar things, which I don’t use, and phoning someone to catch up, talk to neighbours, talk to strangers, use a local shop, were all “acts”, but I do them any way!
Picking up litter near my house is something I have previously considered but not done until now.
Making cakes to give away (act 16) was easy!
Interestingly, it has been easier to actually give “things” than some of the more vague “acts”, such as spreading a positive message. What message? The one they gave made me cringe so much I couldn’t pass it on! Being polite and courteous (act 17) seemed easy until they added “even when driving and at the gym” – well, I tried! The “tell people jokes and make them laugh” on April 1st (act 24), I failed on, but then the “funniest clips from the BBC” were things I didn’t find funny……… Wrong generation again? I was nice to someone that everyone else finds a pain, though – do you think that counts? I decided it did!
So far I might fail on some days and maybe “catch up” on another day. Other people seem to be doing catch ups too, from looking at some of the comments. I have been reminded that people really appreciate being thanked, especially if it is a note, as that seems to mean more. Also that people love surprise presents and women like flowers! Those are things I have done before, but must remember to do more often.
“Do something crafty” i.e. make something to give (act 31) was a problem time-wise, but I did manage to make a little banner for my nephew’s birthday. It was done in a rush to post on time, so the edges are not finished off and it will fray but it will be a surprise for him anyway!
There have been a few things that are way outside my comfort zone – so I have either failed or put them off to another day. And I have done some on another day! Act 32 – take things to a charity shop was also a problem as I do this quite regularly, so there was little to take, but I have found a couple of things.
Having got over ¾ of the way through Lent, I have left out five things so far and one of those is “share a skill” and I have promised to do that for someone, but we are both busy until after Easter. Does that count or not?
So have they been good things to do? Yes, I think so. The Bible reading has been good – a nice change from my usual and it has been good to know that lots of others in the Church are reading the same things. The #40acts has been quite challenging and it has been interesting to see what I fail on and therefore perhaps need to work on. I would do the Bible reading again next year, if it happens, but I am not sure about the #40acts – maybe?