Thursday, February 22, 2007
First Time
I can only imagine what our Pastor must have thought the first time he realized that following the Christian calendar meant leading a group of mostly Baptist through Lent. I do recall him saying that he thought about it for quite some time before making a decision. So, leading us to the Lenten season, he suggested we observe it by taking on a new spiritual discipline in our life for the 40 days.
And being myself at that time, I began a mental review of what I considered spiritual disciplines. One seemed to stand out to me. It was something I was not in the habit of practicing, it required a sacrifice on my part, and it seemed very pious - I would take up the practice of fasting once a week!
I heard the audible gasp from a couple of you. You are the ones who know I am hypoglycemic and what a lack of good food can do to me. For those of you who do not know, it goes something like this: my blood sugar bottoms out and I get symptoms which range from a mild headache and slight irritability to becoming, well - to quote Barbara Bush. . . ."I can't really say what she is, but it rhymes with witch."
I know, it was a really dumb choice. But at the time I was only thinking of what I could do to show my willingness to sacrifice to honor Christ's sacrifice. This choice seemed noble and, as I said earlier, very pious.
I chose Tuesdays because my husband was out of town on Tuesdays and lunch would not be an issue. I knew enough to follow the eat dinner and then fast to the next dinner approach. I was very literal with my interpretation of fasting and decided only water would be appropriate to consume during the fasting time.
Somehow we survived the first Tuesday. My boys were young and quite frankly it was a miracle because as I try to recall how it worked, I cannot. Then came the next Tuesday. About mid-morning snack time, as I popped something in my mouth, I realized that I had failed to live up to my expectations. I had forgotten to observe Lent!!! How could I be so callous and ungrateful?
I regrouped and told myself next week would be better. The only problem was that the next week I also forgot. My first venture in to Lent and I had failed miserably.
It would be a couple of years before I would attempt the Lent thing again. And it would be several more years before I figured out what my real failure was during that first attempt. The real purpose of the Lent journey is to turn our focus to Christ and His ultimate sacrifice for our redemption. My focus had been on me and what I could sacrifice to prove that I was remembering His sacrifice.
Wow! Silly girl. . . .
simple faith
I can only imagine what our Pastor must have thought the first time he realized that following the Christian calendar meant leading a group of mostly Baptist through Lent. I do recall him saying that he thought about it for quite some time before making a decision. So, leading us to the Lenten season, he suggested we observe it by taking on a new spiritual discipline in our life for the 40 days.
And being myself at that time, I began a mental review of what I considered spiritual disciplines. One seemed to stand out to me. It was something I was not in the habit of practicing, it required a sacrifice on my part, and it seemed very pious - I would take up the practice of fasting once a week!
I heard the audible gasp from a couple of you. You are the ones who know I am hypoglycemic and what a lack of good food can do to me. For those of you who do not know, it goes something like this: my blood sugar bottoms out and I get symptoms which range from a mild headache and slight irritability to becoming, well - to quote Barbara Bush. . . ."I can't really say what she is, but it rhymes with witch."
I know, it was a really dumb choice. But at the time I was only thinking of what I could do to show my willingness to sacrifice to honor Christ's sacrifice. This choice seemed noble and, as I said earlier, very pious.
I chose Tuesdays because my husband was out of town on Tuesdays and lunch would not be an issue. I knew enough to follow the eat dinner and then fast to the next dinner approach. I was very literal with my interpretation of fasting and decided only water would be appropriate to consume during the fasting time.
Somehow we survived the first Tuesday. My boys were young and quite frankly it was a miracle because as I try to recall how it worked, I cannot. Then came the next Tuesday. About mid-morning snack time, as I popped something in my mouth, I realized that I had failed to live up to my expectations. I had forgotten to observe Lent!!! How could I be so callous and ungrateful?
I regrouped and told myself next week would be better. The only problem was that the next week I also forgot. My first venture in to Lent and I had failed miserably.
It would be a couple of years before I would attempt the Lent thing again. And it would be several more years before I figured out what my real failure was during that first attempt. The real purpose of the Lent journey is to turn our focus to Christ and His ultimate sacrifice for our redemption. My focus had been on me and what I could sacrifice to prove that I was remembering His sacrifice.
Wow! Silly girl. . . .
simple faith
Labels: Lent
# posted by simple faith : 8:02 AM
