Sacrifice of Lent leads some to deeper understanding

By: Tehya Tournier

On Wednesday, Feb. 10 through March 26, many Christians around the world, including in the Cedar Valley, gave up a luxury as a form of penitence.

Lent is a special time of prayer, penance, sacrifice and good works in preparation for Easter.  It symbolizes the days that lead up to Jesus’ crucifixion when he died for everyone’s sins but also his resurrection.

Sophomore Megan Keough and her father participated in this worldwide event. Megan gave up ice cream because it is something she really likes.

“It was hard at first, but after the first week or two, it wasn’t that bad. It was just hard when my friends would want ice cream, and I couldn’t get it and because 4 Queens opened right after I said I was giving ice cream up,” Keough said.

Megan and her father, Kurtis, had done this with their family multiple times as a tradition, but this was the first year they were very committed. Kurtis gave up pop and sweets, and he said it was because he wanted to try to cut back, but it was very hard to stay committed, and at times he was not successful.

“Pop is like my vice. I love the taste of it. It’s hard to give up your favorite thing. I just kept thinking back to Jesus. He fasted for days, and I thought maybe I could do the same thing, but it was very tough,” Kurtis said.

Sophomore twins Jacob and Brandon Nelson have always tried to participate in Lent, and they agree it helps them grow closer in their walks with Jesus, but this year only Brandon was a part of Lent. He gave up Netflix because he spent a lot of time on it, and he thought it would open up more time for better things.

“At first it was very hard to give up, but once I kept going, it was easy to adjust to not having it,” Nelson said.

Another participant was sophomore Jasmine Pham who gave up Instagram and social media. She gave the apps up because they were the most used, and she was on them all the time. Like the others, Pham said after the first week or so, it wasn’t that tough to keep it going until Lent was over.

“I just forgot about it and realized I don’t really need it, and I would ask about posts or something, but people said I wasn’t even missing anything.”

Not everyone is engaged in Lent, however. Sophomore Luke Gillett has never really given anything up for Lent because no one is his family ever thought about it.

“During the time, though, I try to not do something as much or try to give little things up when other people or my friends are involved in giving something up,” Gillett said.

He said he does think that it would help bring him closer in his faith if he did play a part in the special six weeks before Easter.

Gillett said his cousin had given chips and pop up, and by that he could see him growing closer in a sense because his faith was driving him to also be healthier.