Why my family "practices lent"

You are not Catholic why in the world would you practice lent? I get this question often, even from relatives. I politely respond with why not? It is a great practice. 

You get to give up something for about 40 days and when you want that something you spend time in prayer with God. You can also use it as a teaching tool with your kiddos. 

This year our family sat around the kitchen table after supper one evening discussing lent, it's importance and read the kids a list of things they could choose from. Our kiddos, were for the most part really excited about it! 

Davis chose a giving, a fasting and a praying item. We were shocked at this choices but we supported him fully! He chose to fast from candy, to pray for his school teacher, and to give smiles to those who might need one or who might not get smiled at often. So far he has done so well. There have been moments when he will say, "It is so hard to give up candy, when I see sis with a sucker in her mouth." Those are mighty words from my 7 year olds mouth. We have had many discussions about this and it has been an excellent way to discuss life and its fairness, there is always someone going through something more difficult than you, it isn't easy giving things up for God, but let's look at what he gave up for us and many many more! (picture above has nothing to do with this post except it reminds me of his face when his sister eats candy in from of him!) 

Emerson on the other hand handled our lent conversation like she does most things with humor. When it was her turn to announce what she had chosen she said very proudly,  "I choose to give up God!" We all looked at one another and quickly explained that was not the point or where we were going with the conversation. We changed a few words to get it on her level and she quickly chose to pray everyday. Despite the confusion, she has held solid to this and we are excited for our little prayer warrior! (picture above has nothing to do with this post....it's just a FAV) 

Here are some of the ideas/suggestions we shared with the kids...

Walker and I shared our lent choices with the kids and we displayed them on our kitchen chalkboard so we would have a daily reminder of what items we chose. This activity has brought much conversation in our house about God, caused us to long for him in our "hunger" for our given up items, and given us something to share with our friends when they notice we don't partake in things we might ordinarily do, as well as helped us practice self discipline. For example, Davis piano teacher gave him a bag of his favorite candy just yesterday and after a second of "oh man" he ran to his room and pinned the bag on his bulletin board until April 16.
Do I think we can learn from others? Absolutely! And, this is one great example of this. As a rule people who attend the church of christ do not practice lent, but as for us and our house we do!!!!