How to Make Your Lent More Meaningful

You started off pretty well.

You gave up Coke, and you read scripture for half an hour on each of the first five days of Lent.

On the sixth day, you had to work late. By the time you got home, it was 8:30. One microwaved dinner later, you fell asleep during the 10 o'clock news. When you awoke past midnight, you clicked off the TV and dragged yourself to bed. While you didn't read anything, at least you didn't grab a Coke on the way upstairs.

This is a typical picture of the way Lent goes for many people. They start the season with great ideas about what they'll do differently. Everything goes fine for a few days, maybe a week. Then they fail to do something and give up even trying.

In Western Christianity, Lent is the season between Ash Wednesday, which fell on February 21 this year, and Easter Sunday, which always falls somewhere between March 22 and April 25. This year, it's April 8. Although Ash Wednesday actually occurs 46 days before Easter Sunday, Lent is almost always referred to as 40 days long. This is because Western Church doesn't count Sundays, since fasting on Sunday has always been considered inappropriate.

While Easter celebrates the Resurrection of Christ, Lent is the time of preparation for Holy Week, which recalls the events before and during the crucifixion around A.D. 30. The period symbolizes the 40 days both Moses and Elijah spent in the wilderness. Other Biblical references include Noah in the ark while it rained 40 day and 40 nights and the Jews wandering in the wilderness for 40 years on the way to the Promised Land.