3 Things to Give Up this Lenten Season

The Philippines, being a predominantly Christian country, celebrates Lent - a season of preparation and remembrance before the celebrations of Easter. With just a week left before the end of the Lenten Season this year, we can still do something to observe and take part in the tradition.

For our Triple Treat this week, we're featuring 3 things that you can give up this Lenten Season. 

Online Purchases

This pandemic changed a lot of things in our lives. Online stores and delivery apps became our instant companions when in need of anything we can think of - gifts, food, clothes, etc. While these mobile apps provided us the convenience we need, we became so dependent on technology with some of us spending excessively. 

This Lenten Season, let's take a moment to reassess our lifestyle. If you can temporarily delete these mobile apps on your phone, do it. Reallocate your money to something more important, or better yet, save it.

Travel

Most of us may have been itching to go out and travel. After over a year of being stuck in our homes, it's understandable that we badly need a vacation away from work. Airlines and travel agencies are also offering enticing promos. However, we have to understand that we're still in a pandemic. The recent news show that there's a rising number of COVID-19 infections which should all push us to be extra patient and stay at home.

This Lenten Season, let's maximize our time to bond with our loved ones and family. Enjoy your moments. Try to do some activities that everyone in your household can participate in. Make it as engaging and fun as possible so you can forget about getting bored at home.

30-minute Daily Screen Time

With so many travel restrictions brought about by the pandemic, most of our free time was spent in front of computers, TVs, and other electronic devices. To be compliant with our government's mandate to stay at home, we ended up glued to TV series, movies, and animes. We became so addicted to computer games now that we have a lot of free time to spend. 

This Lenten Season, let's start having our daily prayer time if you don't have it yet. Slash at least 30 minutes of your screen time for an exclusive and intimate moment with our Creator. Pray for your dreams, your aspirations, your family and friends, your future, your career, your problems. Use this to communicate with the Lord how blessed you are to experience life despite everything. 

It's not yet too late to create new habits. Giving up these things will not only help us free from being a "slave" to these worldly things, but it will also open us to whole new things that we can be productive of.