Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Lent begins

Today is Ash Wednesday in the Christian faith. I'm a Catholic, or at least I was raised haphazardly that way and when it comes to major holidays I generally follow along. For some reason, I follow Lent. You may ask, what is Lent? According to CatholicCulture.org...

Lent is the penitential season of approximately 40 days set aside by the Church in order for the faithful to prepare for the celebration of the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. During this holy season, inextricably connected to the Paschal Mystery, the Catechumens prepare for Christian initiation, and current Church members prepare for Easter by a recalling of Baptism and by works of penance, that is, prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
For me, one of the biggest things of Lent is what am I going to sacrifice? I remember this as a child going to Catholic school, what would we give up? Obviously, we all said we would give up school or homework. LOL! That never really went over well...

So what will I do this year? The first thing I decided was to give up meat (except fish). I've done this in the past and know I can do it. I don't necessarily have a problem eating meat, what I have a problem with is getting in vegetables and protein. How does this go with sacrifice? In one sense it doesn't, since meat isn't that big a deal to me, but it does make me think more about being a better steward of my body. I only get one and while God may think it's perfect I know I am not holding up my end of the bargain. I want to take the next 40 days to concentrate on eating healthier.

This brings me to my second resolution. I am going to drastically reduce my sweet intake. I'll admit, this goes along with the above, I've been too crazy on the sweets and it needs to end. They are not good for me and if I want to truly live the best life I can while I can, I need to get a hold of this addiction (yes, addiction) and take control of my life. I say drastically reduce for three reasons:
  1. Every Sat. I go to Dunkin Donuts with hubby for 1 doughnut after my run. I should give this up, but it makes my life so much happier.
  2. I have a half marathon coming up on 3/30 and my preferred method of energy during my runs/race are Sports Beans (jelly beans). It's too late in my training to try something new. These I am allowing.
  3. With above half marathon, on race day I may allow myself a treat afterwards. I may not, but I want the option. Though it is a Sunday and since Sunday's in Lent don't count...
I also want to add in something religious to my Lent this year. I downloaded the One Tree Bible Study app to my Kindle and will go through it each day. Hopefully! I'm awful at remembering these things. LOL! But, the idea is to add something of the Bible and God to Lent this year. I'm not all that religious, but I believe if I am going to follow Lent, then I should do something that reflects the reason for Lent.

I may not be perfect, but I am going to consciously make an effort to focus on these three things to better myself. Will you give something up for Lent? Do you believe in giving something up for Lent?


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