The Lenten season of 2019 has come and gone.

I was raised in a Baptist church. In the 70s and 80s, we did not observe the season of Lent. Observing the Lenten season would have been considered the “Catholic” thing to do.

Today, the Lenten season is very meaningful to me, although I typically do not “give up” anything. That is not to disparage folks who choose to give up chocolate or alcohol or any other special item in their lives. It has just never been my thing to do.

Well, I decided to try it this year. Without telling anyone, I tried to give up……..criticism. I tried to see if I could get through the Lenten season without being critical of others. By the way, the Lenten season is a long, long season of time.

I failed. I failed miserably. For about the first week of the season, things were okay. Yet, I felt I was walking around like a zombie because I realized so much of my waking hours consisted of being critical of others.

A good friend of mine told me why I could not achieve the denial of criticism. “People are stupid,” he said. And while he may be correct, I should still be able to control my responses, even if I feel others are being stupid.

That’s a tough thing to do. Especially since we live in an age where anyone who disagrees with us is characterized as “stupid.”

Let’s face it folks, we live in a hyper-critical age. Criticism is everywhere. In our country, it begins at the top. Our president, Mr. Trump, has lowered the expectations of the presidential office to a childish, critical tweet of anyone who does not see his way. It’s truly disgusting.

Yet, our hyper-critical environment did not begin with Mr. Trump. He has simply capitalized on this strange phenomenon whereby people feel justified in debasing others with continual criticism.

But how does this bode for those of us who call ourselves followers of Christ. I’m afraid it doesn’t bode too well. From reading about Jesus in the New Testament, it would seem that he was most critical of those in the church. He did not simply lash out with insults at those who disagreed with him. He formed relationships. He had compassion. He chose to love those who persecuted him. He instructs us to do the same.

So, like the apostle Paul, we know what we are to do but we find ourselves not doing what we should. We know what we should say but we find ourselves saying the things we know we should not say.

Giving up criticism of others is tough. But can we try to be less critical and more understanding? Possibly. It’s worth a try.