Saturday, February 16, 2013

Failing at Lent

Have you failed at Lent, yet?  


I think we all do, and I'm not going to call myself names because of it.  Some sacrifices are harder than others---like remembering not to say anything bad about anyone, or swear, because those things are such thoughtless habits that they come out before you know it.  

Aside from Ash Wednesday when I ate corn because it was masquerading as a vegetable and not a grain (tricksy, tricksy!), I seriously failed yesterday.  I started out making Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies (because we are trying to quit cereal, and I make the cookies with very little sugar, unlike real oatmeal cookies) for my kids, thinking that oats are gluten-free, and I didn't use anything to sweeten besides maple syrup, nor put any wheat flour in them.  Pretty soon, I had a chocolate-chip cookie that was nowhere near a Breakfast Cookie, or anything that my kids would care to eat!  But I enjoyed them!

It was much, much later when I realized what I had done---making something sweet for my kids, eating it, grain (albeit gluten-free!), sugar, and all, myself!  

Failing at our New Year's Resolutions every January makes us call ourselves names and then give up those resolutions.  Lenten penances, however, serve to remind us that we 

a.   make these sacrifices  in order to grow closer to God, and 

b. that we need His help to succeed.

I think of it as a call to deeper prayer.  Lots of people choose not to "give up" anything for Lent in favor of "doing" something like add prayer time, and that's fine, but I think the constant reminder, through our failures, that we can only sacrifice things for Him and with Him is good.

2 comments:

  1. I failed yesterday too. I'm trying to do the "more" thing, but also gave up sleeping in, or sleeping til the baby wakes me up. I've been trying to get up at 5:30 to workout. Not yesterday. Was up late the night before, it was Valentine's day, had to spend time with my valentine, right? and then 2 different kiddos were up in the night. not much sleep, means mama sleeps til baby gets up. No exercise yesterday.

    New day each day. Time for more prayer. For sacrifices. Those little things that add up.

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  2. I haven't failed yet per se, but my Lenten disciplines are requiring more of me than I thought they would. For example, I forgot how much pain my hands can be in... and one of my disciplines is crocheting a 7x7 square a day. (It's for an afghan for charity.) I could claim to be "offering it up" for Jesus but it's more reminding me of why I'm taking it on.

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