Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Lenten preparations

Olivia is still fighting the nasty head cold, and she's getting increasingly frustrated with the constant supply of mucus that is interfering with her breathing. She keeps giving me these exasperated looks and then babbling on about how frustrated she is. (I assume that's what she's babbling about...I can't actually translate what she is saying. Oh, did I mention that she's vocalizing now...pretty much constantly?)

Maggie got me thinking about Lenten resolutions, and I must admit that I've not been terribly good about coming up with anything substantial. For my own discipline, I'll probably quit actively seeking out dessert (my guilty pleasure when I bring my own lunch to work). But surely I can come up with a more meaningful Lenten discipline than that.

Lent isn't about punishment or "penance", I think. I believe that the Lenten "fast" is about removing those distractions that keep you from a closer relationship with Christ. That can be accomplished by "giving up" something, or you can resolve to actively do something...improve your prayer life, do some spiritual reading, get involved in social justice, volunteer.

My biggest distraction is TV. It eats away more of my time than I care to admit. So I'll probably incorporate some sort of TV limit if my husband concurs. Perhaps I should seek out some good reading material too. Or spend more time reading to the baby? She's not so much into the books right now...she's more into shiny bright objects and ceiling fans. She's all about the ceiling fans. They are the only things that consistently make her laugh. I never really thought of ceiling fans as funny, but whatever.

What do you consider to be a good Lenten practice?

(Please comment so I can prove to my husband that I have more than two readers!)

5 comments:

HereWeGoAJen said...

Want me to comment more than once? I can use a fake name. :)

Do you have a stat counter on your blog? If I relied solely on comments, I would have no idea how many people read my blog. I think I get comments from about 5-10%.

Ceiling fans are hilarious if you have never seen anything like them before in your whole life. I can always entertain babies for significant periods of time by wiggling my nose. They've never seen anyone do it before.

Maygy said...

Hello! I've been thinking about what to do as well...right now here are some of my thouhghts:

*Go to mass more during the week (I always thought I'd get to daily mass when I was finally a "stay at home mom" -- didn't really think about how busy this little one would keep me!), so my plan is to try to go 2 times a week

*Keep up with Magnificat prayers - my wonderful in-laws get us a subscription, but sometimes it doesn't get read that much, I plan to read it daily

*Giving up Dr. P.epper, ice cream, and baking (I'm not a Dr. Pepper addict, but at the right time and with the right food - pizza, hamburger - there is NOTHING I like more than a cold Dr. P.epper! Yumm! And I LOVE to make cupcakes, cake from the box mixes.)

Anyway, just a few things I'm thinking of...you made such a good point about the TV -- I don't like ot admit how much time I actually waste in front of it either! (Especially now with T.ivo!)

Hope Olivia starts feeling better as soon as possible... :)

Anonymous said...

I know this is terrible, but I honestly don't think I could cut out TV. I don't just watch it, I have it on for noise, to distract me from the 3 more hours I have till Daddy gets home, because I like hearing adult voices, because staying home with a baby is SO BORING. I usually keep it tuned to cable news so I know entirely too much about the presidential primaries. But cutting out TV would, I swear, KILL ME.

Anonymous said...

Hello, there -- I got to your site from Maggie's blog. I hope you don't mind! I love reading what other moms have to say. I'm at work all day, missing my seven-month-old baby, so it's nice to take breaks and get plugged back into "baby world" during the day.

I will bow down to you if you give up TV. I don't think I could do that ... I tend to plop down in front of it once Jack's in bed for the night to unwind! For me, I'd have to give up my nightly dessert ... and it would be tough!

Jack loves ceiling fans, too. He is also FASCINATED by our blinds. They are the least attractive part of our apartment, but he thinks they're the cat's pajamas. Go figure!

Southern Comfortable said...

Here we are on the third day of Lent, and I STILL don't know what I'm doing. My husband would never agree to give up TV-- and honestly, I'm not sure I could do it. The house is just too quiet whenever I'm home alone. I do think that's an ideal penance, though.

Last year I gave up listening to secular music in the car. I couldn't give it up at home, because D hates contemporary Christian music. I did find that it helped calm my nerves in the car, though, and get less angry in traffic!

I've also given up meat in the past (too hard right now, when I'm off dairy), alcohol (which I might do again this year), and candy.

I'm going to at least try to go to daily Mass a few times a week. I'd like to do more . . . .