“What are you giving up for Lent this year?” This springtime conversation starter makes an appearance in my life every year as it comes time for the Lenten season to begin. I am always tempted to try and find the “perfect” sacrifice: something hard, but not too hard, something unique, but not too weird: a manageable adjustment. It’s easy to get caught up in this selection process, to make Lent into a personal challenge that might bring along with it a sense of accomplishment. But this is not exactly the point of Lent.

Today’s reading reminds us what Lent is really about. As a season of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting, Lent helps us orient ourselves toward God. Through our Lenten discipline we walk alongside Jesus in the desert. As Jesus says in today’s Gospel, we are each called “take up [our] cross daily and follow me.” Lent gives us the chance to rededicate ourselves to this call, to find ways in our daily routine to shift our concern beyond ourselves to God. Though it is easy to make Lent about feeling satisfied with what we are able to give up, this is not the end to which our practice points. Rather, our Lenten discipline helps us to critically examine what we cling to in life, to prioritize our faith, to renew our relationship to Christ and recognize our reliance on him. Though it may feel as though we lose an important part of our lives by giving up something dear to us, this abnegation helps us see what is truly essential. Letting go of a cherished aspect of our lives helps us make room for God. In giving up, we gain a greater gift.