How To Prepare For Lent {With Printables}

Feeling stressed about how to prepare for Lent? Focusing on these four key areas will help you on your journey to Christ’s Holy Pascha!

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Today is the first day of Lent, and I’m already behind.

I feel kind of silly about it, too. I mean, how did I miss the signs to prepare for Lent?

The first day of anything fills me with the joy of possibilities and new beginnings. On the FIRST DAY, I can do anything! I can achieve my goals and exercise and eat oatmeal for breakfast instead of the peanut butter toast I’m craving. I can drink 8 glasses of water and never, ever be snarky to my husband.

Even Mondays are exciting as they offer a new chance to make changes, to finesse, to do things a little better than the week before. Truth be told, I’m pretty sure this is playing right into my competitive nature: I bet I can do THIS week/year/season better than last time!

The value of prep work to prepare for Lent

But one of the things I’ve found is that Mondays go a lot more smoothly and I get a lot more done if I do a bit of prep work the night before. You know–taking pen to paper (preferably a really cute notepad) and jotting down my have-to-dos and want-to-dos, what I need to get from the grocery and any obligations I have (being a spontaneous person, I hate obligations!) Having a clear vision of my day/week helps me to accomplish my goals in a more efficient way. And I’m all about efficiency.

In the Orthodox church, we’re given a season of preparing for Lent — to get ready, to make our lists, to stock our pantry, to clear our calendars, and while I LOVE lists, I’m not so good at pre-planning. Spontaneous, right?

The value of forgiving yourself as you prepare for lent

So here I am, on the first day of Lent, with only a basic shell of a plan. Wait, did you forget to plan, too? Or maybe we didn’t actually forget, but just…postponed preparing for Lent. Other people seem to have it together with weekly menus and maybe even a Lenten reading list. What is wrong with us?

I think we need to be gentle with ourselves and to realize that Lent is a journey, that Christ accepts us for who we are where we are and that we just have to move forward one foot, and one meal, at a time.

So we’re a little late to the party. But not too late! It might help if we break it down so we can sort it out. Here are the key pieces of this Lenten puzzle:

Lenten Meals
Church Services
Family + Private Prayer Time
Acts of Service

Lenten Meals

While food is not necessarily the most important aspect of Lent, it’s the one that tends to get us the most worked up.

It shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but when it’s 5 o’clock and you just got home and you’re starving, it becomes a VERY BIG DEAL. This is when it pays to do a bit of pre-planning with your weekly menu plan. And hey, I will definitely do that next week! But for now, here are a few tips to make Lenten meals a bit easier.

Tips for simplifying Lenten meals

Take Stock. Look through your pantry, fridge and freezer, and write down all the fasting ingredients you have on hand. You may have everything you need to prepare easy Lenten foods for at least a few days. If you’re like me, any excuse to put off going to the grocery store sounds good! Plus I LOVE the challenge of seeing what I can create with the ingredients at hand. Why not try making it into a game?
Simplify. Lenten meals are meant to be simple–simple ingredients put together in simple ways, leaving us more time for prayer and reflection. A bowl of brown rice (made in a programmable rice cooker) plus a quick stir fry with veggies and tofu is delicious, filling, healthy and quick. Too hippie for you? How about a Thai curry or that easiest of easy meals: spaghetti with red sauce?
Lower Your Expectations. Don’t worry–I’m not talking about eating yucky food here! But while we may love planning and preparing gourmet meals with interesting ingredients and challenging cooking techniques, Lent isn’t really the time for that. Embrace easy and don’t worry about less-than-mindblowing meals.
Shift Your Focus. Repeat after me: “Lent is not about the food.” Food is a tool to keep our bodies fueled for more prayer, more church services and more acts of service. Christ knows that eating less is hard. Which sets us up for…

church services

There was once a group of Orthodox peasants who began to grumble. It was Lent, and they were fasting, but their master valued high productivity and didn’t allow them to go to church. Thus the grumbling.

The moral of the story?

Fasting from food without nourishment from the words of Christ and the Church Fathers leads to dissatisfaction and hunger on more than just a physical level.

Let’s face it–sometimes it’s hard to make ourselves get dressed and go to church. There are definitely times when I’d rather stay home in my cozy pjs and listen to an Orthodox podcast or just go for a walk in the woods and experience God in His creation.

But sometimes the very act of putting aside what we want and doing the hard thing yields the biggest results.

The good news is that there are SO many Lenten church services to attend! Just know that to hear Lenten melodies and words, you’ll need to go to a weekday service. Sunday morning Liturgy always celebrates Christ’s joyous Resurrection, so you’ll hear no Lenten references then.

Family + private prayer time

I’ll just go ahead and say it: Establishing a rule of prayer is, for me, the hardest part of preparing for Lent.

I mean, it’s relatively easy to eat simply, to go to church and to do stuff for other people. Those are all action items, and I LOVE taking action!

But prayer is a lot harder because it requires loads of self discipline. It’s done in secret, and the only person holding me accountable is me.

If we do not find prayer difficult, perhaps it is because we have not really started to pray. Abba Agathon

Tips for establishing a prayer rule.

Set up a prayer corner so your icons and prayer books are in one place, ready to go.
Print out prayers to hang in your kitchen, office or wherever you spend the most time during the day. As you go about your daily tasks, take a moment to stop and pray.
Agree on when you will gather as a family to pray. Before breakfast? After dinner? Just before bedtime? Hold each other accountable.
Use your time in the car to pray. Keep a small icon of Christ on your dashboard to help you focus.
Use this List of Prayers for Orthodox Christians for any specific concerns.
If you have one, run all this past your spiritual father or mother for a blessing.

Probably the best known Orthodox Lenten prayer is the Prayer of St. Ephraim. I’ve created three printables for you to hang in your prayer corner as you prepare for Lent.

They’re available FREE in my Resource Library (aka FREEBIES page). Get access here:

Acts of service

Besides Lenten meals, church services and prayer, Lent is a time for acts of service.

Are you fasting? Show me your fast with your works. Which works? If you see someone who is poor, show him mercy. If you see an enemy, reconcile with him. If you see a friend who is becoming successful, do not be jealous of him. Love your neighbor. St John Chrysostom

If you’re like me and are late to the game to prepare for Lent, you haven’t really formulated an action plan for great deeds. Maybe next year we can organize a city-wide food drive, but in the meantime, like right now, here are a few ways to practice serving others:

Volunteer to read aloud at a local school or hospital.
Take non-fasting foods from your pantry and/or freezer to a local food bank (check requirements–while my local food pantry accepts frozen food, others may not)
Phone a friend or relative who kind of drives you nuts just to check in. (Just make sure you don’t allow yourself to be drawn into any drama!)
Use your crafting skills for others–knit a prayer shawl or sew a blanket for a new baby. Maybe you could even share your craft by teaching at your church or local women’s shelter.

Your timing is perfect to prepare for lent

So if you, like me, haven’t done a stellar job to prepare for Lent, don’t lose hope, and don’t beat yourself up! After all, if we’re going to practice mercy, we need to start with ourselves.

Let’s plan to enter into the journey of Lent by focusing on these 4 areas:

Lenten Meals. Practice simplicity, remembering that Lent is not about the food and that it is a tool to keep our bodies fueled for more prayer, more church services and more acts of service.
Church Services. Attend as many weekday services as possible and prepare to be nourished by the words of Christ and the Church Fathers.
Family + Personal Prayer. Formulate a daily prayer rule and, as much as possible, stick with it. Be sure to include time for family AND personal prayer.
Acts of Service. Look for ways to sacrifice your time to benefit others, knowing that when we put others first we are emulating Christ.

Next year we may do a better job to prepare for Lent. Or we may not. Just remember that we all have our strengths and weaknesses and that it’s never to late to step onto the path.

Today is the perfect day to begin your journey to that most joyous of destinations: Christ’s Holy Pascha.

A blessed Lent to you!