BLOOMING KIDS - LENT | KAIROS GLOBAL | MARCH 2019

Author: Joan Martin

Intro: Joan Martin shares her plans for Lent

  “What are you giving up for Lent?” This is a popular question asked among Catholics during this time of the year. Examples of answers we hear include sweets, video-games, social media, and one that I would love so much to abstain from, but never works at my house – school!!

     This is something we do every year for Lent. But is there any other way to prepare ourselves for our Lord’s Passion? This year, I have decided to make sacrifices, by focusing on doing things that are hard for me, rather than what I can give up. So, I have decided to try to overcome one of my major weaknesses: getting up in the morning. I am not a morning person at all and I would rather sleep until noon than do school. I plan to wake up and jump out of my bed as soon as I am called. I believe this will help me grow in God’s love and grow out of a bad habit.

     Some other habits of mine that I would like to work on are keeping my mouth shut when my brothers get on my nerves, and thinking twice before talking back to my parents. This is what I plan to do this Lent.

     What else can we do? Some suggestions would be giving up social media and using that time to spend with others, one-on-one. We can use this time to hang out with the lonely kids at school, to spread some love and joy, and showing them that they truly matter; to bring a smile on the face of the elderly by giving them a hug and a hand; and spending some quality time with our family. 

     These and many others will help us bloom into a better child of God. What do you plan to do this Lent?

Joan Martin is a 13-year-old homeschooler living in Houston, USA. She loves spending time with people and singing. She is a lector, altar server and choir member at church, volunteers in her community, attends youth groups at church and JY.