Lent: giving up Gransnet!

Good luck with that - are you allowed to look but not post?

petallus you will be missed sweetie,why can't you just give up chocolate ?

Why is Lent so negative? Instead of giving up something one enjoys, why not do something new (enjoyable or otherwise) instead, especially something that might help other people.

I can answer my own question, of course. It's a religious thing about enjoyable things somehow being bad for one. Well, if people want to believe that, so be it, but I don't.

Seriously though, why not a positive challenge instead of a negative one? And why just at Lent if one isn't a christian?

Really good post bags

Oh pet chocolate would be easier , see you in 40 days.

No, no looking either.

Thanks glammanana

Bags that's an interesting question, why at Lent if we are not Christians?

It being Lent seems to give the act extra significance, maybe because of the historical and cultural connections.

I suppose I'm just interested to see how I cope without Gransnet. I'm on loads of time during the day and recently was even posting whilst speaking on the phone to a friend.

A step to far! She was telling me about the birth of her grandchild.

So I see it as a positive (spiritual) exercise.

Might very well add in doing a bit of yoga, relaxation or whatever as well.

It's not the first time I've done things for Lent. I once read through a Lent book and got quite a bit out of it. I'm obviously a broad-minded atheist

Finally, the person I am in the pact with is my adult GS who lives with me and he really wanted me to do it.

Good idea bags, will miss you petallus, in a hurry , off to work

Sounds a bit drastic petallus! Choccy biscuits and wine would be so much better for you to give up We will miss you.

The modern approach to Lent (always was, really but it got a bit lost) is not just to abstain but to abstain and give or do. So you give what you would have spent on chocolate or booze or a meal or two every week to a charity of your choice. Or if you choose to give something up that doesn't cost anything in money, you can still make a donation or offer service of some kind either to a charity or to people you know who need it. Quite a few churches offer Lent meals, usually cheese or soup and bread and the difference between what you would normally spend and the cost goes to charity. Just giving something up is probably a test of character but it probably doesn't do anyone any good except you. Good luck, petallus.

I suppose sometimes a thing is worth doing just to prove one can. Enjoy yourself, petallus.

Crossed posts, lily. Thanks for the explanation. I should have known that (probably did really, somewhere in the recesses of my brain). I suppose Lent is used as a kind of reminder as well – easier to focus on forty days than, well, all the time. Not that I think people need to be giving things up in order to contribute to others' well-being.

Brave Petallus.... I should join you, (says she eating breakfast with one hand and typing with the other!)

Thanks Bags that's exactly it.

Lilygran I might use the time to do more good, who knows

By the way Lilygran how come Christians get every Sunday off? Surely Jesus didn't leave the desert every seventh day and go home for a rest and a nice cooked meal, did he?

petallus - The why's and wherefore's for deciding to step away from doing something for a while are as diverse as there are people, on the whole. It can be very refreshing.

Enjoy your change!

I'll be interested to hear how it goes for you.

Good luck Petallus it will be interesting to see what you make of your abstention.

I was taught that we Christians get Sundays off because Sunday is a feast day i.e. a special day.

Giving something up for lent should also benefit someone less well off than yourself, as someone said previously, if you give up chocolate or wine or cigarettes then the money saved should be given to charity. If you give up something that results in your having more time, then that time could be given over to helping someone, say an elderly neighbour or relative.

When I was teaching we encouraged the children to do something extra rather than give something up. Both require an effort but doing something extra usually benefits someone else.

Good Luck Petallus
OGM do be careful not to spill breakfast over your keyboard. That cost me £25 for a new one for my lap top.

Thanks for the good wishes.

I probably do need a bit of support.

I just hope I don't want to ask about duvets or the best way to wash something in the next forty days.

It's not just that though. It's meeting up with a group of people, who feel very familiar, every day. It's comforting, in spite of the occasional spat.

I hope it will be refreshing and I shall report back at the end of the forty days.

But I'm not going yet, I've got until Tuesday midnight.

Here I am lying in bed, watching a renovation show and typing on GN. My excuse is most of the time I am too busy to read posts, so bedtime for me is relaxing and catching up. My penance would be giving up my daily fix of chocolate.

It will be interesting petallus, to see how you manage forty days and nights. See you around my birthday.. (gulp, another year older).

Is it total abstention or can you read but not post?

Total

FinL used to give up smoking for Lent .It made him so bad tempered that we all wished he given his bad temper up instead!

Hunt