As a person of faith, I think I get a little tired of waiting. I think we'd all be OK with Christmas without Advent, Easter without Lent. Where's the fun in that, though?
So the celebration of Easter is not about giving up Lent -- just like Lent wasn't about giving up Easter. It is all part of the same holy rhythm of discerning enough and learning what life together really means.
Taking Lent seriously means recognizing and seeking to break those fasts. It means not taking the Easter celebration and relief for granted.
To the more cosmopolitan non-believer, I had just found a way to justify anorexia. To a person without any spiritual bearing in life and to my atheist counterparts, I was crackers.
I don't want to knock those who give stuff up. In fact, I understand the significance of self-denial, but if we're not careful, we can so easily just fall into religious practice for the sake of religious practice.
Over time and through tribulation, people have learned to eat their hunger -- to exploit a period of foodlessness for the invaluable experience it can offer.
