hey guys, it's lent.
it's lent you guys!! did you know?? i haven't written about lent yet, but i'm sure i'm not your only source of relevant information in this world. if for some horrifying reason i am, that's okay, because it's still lent. halfway through to be exact. and i can talk at you about it all i want!a friend of mine, who doesn't read this blog because he is the worst, (just kidding if you ever read this joey! you're actually the best! sorry i forgot to take the banana bread my husband made you out of my purse to give to you...he was not happy with me.) asked me the other day if God actually cares that i eat meat on lenten fridays or not (we were discussing dinner plans). now, he was just being a sassbudgit, but i told him i would be happy to talk through it with him if he wanted to get all theological up in it with me.the short answer is no. God probably does not care if i eat a burger on a friday. if i beat somebody up on a friday, that's probably going to count against me way more than a chicken wing entering my body. but it isn't really about if God's going to be "mad" or not, is it? because He's never going to disown me for doing something wrong, as long as i have remorse about doing that wrong thing. He's always there for me, and the cool thing is that nothing i do could ever make Him love me less.so why do we do anything that we do as far as tradition and liturgy go? what's the point of it all? why in lent specifically do we give stuff up? because it's about proactively doing things to make ourselves better and to get ourselves closer to God. so when I give up chocolate (oh sweet baby Jesus, it is hard), i'm taking something that means a lot to me, and i'm making a point to say, "i want to focus on something other than [insert your vice here] in hopes of becoming better."
but we're all adults here, right? we understand that being deliberate and thoughtful during lent doesn't just mean we have to give up candy. we can give up beer instead, like Mister Man! OR we could add something into our lives to make us more mindful, more focused on what we were put on this earth for: to serve God and to serve others. for me, this year, that means taking the time to think about my faith, and to take some conscious time for reflection every day. so i've started to do an online bible study every morning on my own, and pray a decade of the rosary with my husband every night. it's maybe a total of an extra 45 minutes of my day spent on those things, but i can't tell you what a difference it's making inside me. it's setting me up to be able to reflect on larger parts of my life and be able to see clearly where i want to go from here, personally, professionally, spiritually.
(this photo totally illustrates the time i've spent on personal reflection. jealous of my beer, MM?)
as a Catholic, i get these questions a lot, the whys of the traditions. because we Catholics, we are pretty into rituals. (have you seen how complicated it is to choose a new pope??) but that's one of the reasons i love the Church so much. because each ritual has its meaning, and every single tradition in the Church is meant to take us closer to God. meatless fridays and no chocolate included.do you guys give stuff up or do something extra during lent? i'm curious as to what i'm going to see instagrammed in abundance on easter!
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