Lent 2017: Zoned Out

Lent: Day 37 of 40

Name: Chris Park
Lenten Commitment: Give up soda.

For Lent this year, I gave up drinking soda.

It was not the most addicting thing in my life, but I figured I should stop drinking so much soda and believed it would be a worthwhile experience. Surprisingly, giving up soda was relatively easy for me.

I never really thought about why until two weeks ago, when I was zoned out during Pastor Daniel’s sermon. [Sorry Pastor Dan.]

I was thinking about how I had been drinking a lot more water and congratulated myself how well I was managing myself and living healthier. But then I thought about all of the other junk food I had been eating and all of the time I had wasted inside on my phone instead of doing stuff like reading my Bible. I realized I was not actually doing anything except making myself feel a little better giving up one small thing out of a mountain of unhealthy addictions.

My mind turned to Jesus and thought about how He gave up His life for our sins and I thought, “Wow… I am a sucky person.” He had given everything for us and I was just there congratulating myself on drinking water while I ate Chinese food while watching TV and enjoying all of my other earthly desires. I had not been properly reflecting on what He had done for me.

So I promised myself that for the rest of Lent, I would actually think about why I should be giving up something from my life and do things like read the Bible more and doing my quiet time.

Honestly, since then, I have not done as much as I promised myself, but I think I have started to become slightly more motivated. I hope to be able to eventually focus more on what I should be doing and not just watch television shows or eat junk food.

I am grateful that I participated this Lent because, without it, I probably would not have thought this deeply about church and just relied on some distraction for my problems. I will try to do something for Lent next year, and I hopefully give up of something more significant.