Must be More

Every Sunday night for the past six Sundays we have been encroached upon by a combination of loud disco music, endless chanting and the steady banging of drums. 


It is the season of Carnival.  


Undoubtedly the most obviously and outwardly celebrated holiday of the Haitian calendar, Carnival doesn't officially begin until tomorrow and lasts through Tuesday.  Nonetheless, these months of Sunday serenades have prepared us, and bands of men dripping in oil and hidden by masks and camo have stopped our truck the last several weeks, drawing crowds and asking for money.


Once in high school I gave up candy, ice cream and desserts for Lent, which, if you know me, was a really big thing.  I do not at all recall any spiritual motivation there, or how I was thinking that necessarily glorified God.  I do recall making up for it by eating 40 days worth of Peeps on Easter, which again, if you know me, was not a big thing.


And that is my extent of personal experience with Lent aside from a passing thought or stand-alone sermon.

Preparing for Mardi Gras this year, which usually just means being on house-arrest for a few days and maybe a day or two off school, really has me thinking this year. 

Why in the world does Haiti, and so many other places, do this?  What should our response be as Christians?  


And what about Lent?  Is it just a Catholic thing?  Is there something we should be doing, as His children and as a family, during this time?  


Does Lent have an evangelical purpose?  Can and should Lent be used as a teaching opportunity, for my students and for my children...and for myself?  


Most...Could this rather dark, carnal and discouraging time in Haiti be MORE? A time of something glorifying and beautiful that we could place at His feet?  Surely.


So, I've started to do my homework, started to put together a 40 day reading/craft program that is toddler appropriate for Lily, started to do lots of research and lots of prayer through what our response should be to Mardi Gras and what role Lent should/could play in my relationship with Him.  


Mind if I share???