Happy Lent! Don’t often hear people say that, now do you? 😛 Probably because you either associate it with a time of restriction of some sort, or you associate it with nothing, really. I happen to fall into the latter camp. Lent has never really affected my daily life for these 40-ish days one way or another (I know, I know, but I’m just being honest!). I am not Catholic, so I don’t feel the religious pull to give up something for Lent, or try to do something better during Lent, or not eat meat on Fridays, or whatever. Not that Catholicism is the only religion to practice that, but I have noticed that those “rules”, if you will, apply predominantly in that faith. And not that all Catholics follow that regimen, but I think you catch my drift.
So I’m curious – do you do anything differently during Lent?
When R and I first started living together out east, I did try to tag along during the pre-Easter season (he’s Catholic, but not really a practicing one. even he’s since given up on the Lenten rules.). He was foregoing the Friday meat, so I tried to turn my back on sweets for the duration. Now, let me clue you in on something… I rarely go 40 hours without having something sweet, let alone 40 days. But I gave it a shot. If everyone else can do it, why can’t I? And I must say, I was doing a damn good job of quelling my sweet tooth….
Until that fateful day, 1 week before Easter, when R’s mom sent us Easter baskets overflowing with candy. Oh.my.god! There were jelly beans and m&ms spilling all over the box, and I lost all control. I couldn’t let them suffer and melt in there, strewn all about like nobody loved them! So I proceeded to trash the previous 33 days of dessert-free progress and gobble up that candy like I’d never seen a Cadbury egg before. 1 week to go! Geez, epic fail, SM. That was the closest I’ve ever come to succeeding at giving something up during Lent, so I just don’t bother trying anymore. 🙂 And to be perfectly honest, it doesn’t concern me in the slightest. Call me a bad Christian, call me weak, call me what you will, but that’s just how I roll.
So for those of you who have begun a month and a half of giving up a few of your favorite things on this lovely Ash Wednesday, hopefully you enjoyed your Mardi Gras celebrations yesterday and aren’t suffering from too terrible a hurricane-induced hangover.