This year I've given up the following:
- Facebook.
- Giving in to crankiness (inspired by a good friend of mine)
- Sugar - excepting home-baked goods.
I made the exception on account of the amount of soaked oatmeal I eat because I turn it into muffins. That being said, I only use 1/4 of the sugar the recipe calls for anyway.
I know it's still a cop out. - Picking my face.
It's a bad habit... - Video games, vicariously.
Hubby gave up video games and I'm playing them a lot less to try and help him.
It's a good time for me to get my ass back in gear. Especially this year, seeing as I've gone soft on myself after having the wee one. Really, since the last trimester.
I was really good about not eating sugary crap until I got to the last month of pregnancy. I would say things like, "one muffin is okay," or, "I'll treat myself."
That kind of an attitude snowballs pretty quickly, so now I suck at not eating sugar.
At any rate.
Lent is the one thing I did more seriously before converting. When I first learned about lent in middle school I was told it lasted until Easter. I never bothered to do the math and figure out that Sundays are technically not included in the allotted 40 days, I just chose something to give up and I abstained from the chosen thing/behaviour until Easter.
This is another reason that hubby calls me his little Viking; I can be kind of stubborn about it.
I've grown lax since converting, but I still prefer to not partake in whatever it was I gave up until Easter including Sundays and Feast days.
~~~
On a random note:
I tried making coconut milk recently. Totally not worth the time and effort. And if you buy the tinned coconut when it's on sale making your own isn't even cheaper.
It took me a whole day to just shred one. Maybe the milk will taste phenomenal. I'll let you know when I actually get it made.
Hopefully in the next day or so.
What about Lent appealed to you before converting? That's a really unusual observance for someone who wasn't very formally religious. It always surprises me, the disciplines and sacramentals that appeal to people one wouldn't expect. I have herd that Paris Hilton has a devotion to the rosary (not that I'm comparing you to Paris Hilton). I see it as a sign of God's grace and hope for the world.
ReplyDeleteI am not as fortunately zealous as you. Lent was always a struggle for me, even though I have observed it as long as I can remember. I tend to be spiritually lazy, which is odd as I am not generally a lazy person. But this year, I am giving up sweets and pointless computer usage (youtube, funny blogs, computer games, ect.) and I am trying to make the family say at least one decade of the rosary every single day.
Hanna
Lent is still a struggle for me, I just tend to be hard on myself about odd things.
DeleteI suppose I liked lent before because it was a challenge and I saw it as an opportunity to better myself in small ways. I can be lazy without something specific to motivate me and lent is a great motivator.
I'm also trying to say a rosary every night, although I haven't been terribly successful.