Time to Bury All the Chocolate

Well, tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and it’s my habit to give up chocolate, a big guilty pleasure of mine, for Lent. I’ve posted before about this, each year. Last year, I explained better than I think I can tonight, at the post in this link.

I realize it is old school. However, the discipline of giving something up is rewarding when I succeed. Forty days and forty nights of a simple avoidance is nothing compared to forty days and forty nights in the desert! My minor suffering, my minor longing and craving - ooops, I’ll make myself hungry for some right now if I don’t change the way I’m writing this.

Ok. So, when I give something up, or when I take on a new challenge, try to form a new habit, or whatever small amount of suffering I choose to do, and when I succeed, I truly feel good on Easter weekend. 

I’ve already gathered up the candy and such and put it all away until Easter arrives.

I suspect I will be chomping jelly beans and spiced gum drops instead of M&Ms and Milky Way mini’s. Cookies and muffins, when and if I indulge, will have raisins or fruits instead of chocolate chips. The occasional spoonful of ice cream when I open the freezer will not be mint chocolate chip but instead, it will be vanilla.

Father, thank you for helping me make this little sacrifice on behalf of your beloved Son, Jesus. There’s no way this can compare to his ultimate sacrifice but it does help me remember what he did for me, for us, each time I have a craving and I do not give in.