Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday;  the day in which, the Lent season begins.   The word, “Lent,” comes from the Middle English word, “lenten,” meaning spring.  Spring is the season in which all of God’s creations come back to life from the cold winter’s death.  The Lent season ends on Easter day, the very day we celebrate Christ’s resurrection.

Lent is a period of fasting and penitence.  It was traditionally observed by Christians as a preparation for Easter.  The length of Lent is 40 days.  The reason for 40 days is because of the 40 days in the wilderness experienced by Moses, Elijah, and Christ.  Moses purified himself before going before the Lord on Sinai by fasting for 40 days (Exodus 24:15-18).  Elijah’s fast of 40 days was like Moses….. in order to approach God on Horeb (1 Kings 19:8).  And Christ prepared himself for public ministry by fasting 40 days in the wilderness, where Satan tried temptation…. and failed miserably (Luke 4:1-2).

There are three traditional disciplines associated with Lent:

Fasting: Skipping a meal once a week or refraining form eating certain foods (remember yesterday…. forbidden foods were meat, milk, eggs, and butter).  This gives us the opportunity to spend more time feeding on the Word of God and being spiritually nourished through prayer and meditation.

Abstinence: Removing a particular bad habit, sinful indulgence or guilty pleasure from our daily routine.  This frees us to engage in activities that are God-pleasing and reflect in a small way the self-sacrifice that Christ endured for us.

Almsgiving: Giving something extra during this time—-to our church, to the poor, and to the needy amongst us like charities or other service organizations.  This is to help us remember that Christ gave up everything to save us from sin and to free us to live a new life with Him.

On Ash Wednesday, many churches have a ceremony in which ashes are placed on our foreheads in the form of a cross.  The ashes are a symbol of purification in the Old Testament which reminds us that we are only mere mortals.  Ashes also represents penance…..and thus Ash Wednesday.  The ashes are a reminder to help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice.  Some churches burn the palm leaves from the previous Easter season and use those ashes in the ceremony.

“Remember that you are dust, and dust you shall return.”  Genesis 3:19

Here’s a cool activity I found in one of my Lent devotional books:

Lenten Prayer Tree

Go outside and find a bare branch.  You can use it in it’s natural state or spray paint it a favorite color.  Next, anchor the branch in a vase with gravel or sand.  Cut out these shapes:  grapes, lambs, thorns, hearts, crosses and fish.  You can print them out on your computer or out of colored paper…. what a cool art project for the kids.

Sit your family down and write your family’s prayer concerns on the cut-outs and tie them to the tree.  Spend some time each day as a family asking God to help and bless the people on your prayer cut-outs.  Spend the time talking about ways your family might help those in need……

Come back tomorrow to see a collection of devotionals I have collected that you and your family can use during the Lent Season……

God Bless…..

Related posts:

1. Lent Devotionals
2. First Full Week of Lent
3. Vegan Lent