Pandemic Eclipses Lent - Almost!

I can't believe I've almost gone through all of Lent and haven't posted at all about it. I usually run a series of some sort. I was thinking today about how this crisis has some similarities to Lent.

Christ willingly strode into the desert and mountains for 40 days and 40 nights of meditation, prayer, solitude - social distancing for sure.

We are willingly but worriedly in the midst of weeks of social distancing as well.

I need to remind myself of that each day. I need to pray often for not just myself but for so many many others in dire circumstances.

He was tempted. We are tempted to break quarantine, to venture out.

Now that I'm thinking along these lines, I begin to see so many similarities.

Sweet Lord Jesus, you are our hope at this time. You see what we are going through. And you understand on so many levels. Help us please to do what is right during this tragic time. Be with us constantly. We trust in you!

Lenten Season - My Chocolate Fast Looms

Where does the time go? It doesn’t seem like a whole year since the last Lenten season.

Most of you already know that every Lent I give up my beloved chocolate habit. Until two years ago, I allowed myself one mini-York patty at night before I went to bed. Then, two years ago, I said “no chocolate means no chocolate.” As much as I love it, I seem to be able to do 40 days and nights without it. So far.

But this year it’s going to be harder. See, this year, Lent begins earlier. Ash Wednesday comes the day after Valentine’s Day. Hey, that’s the day I usually head to the stores for their chocolate/Valentine-candy clearance deals. Of course, I can still take advantage of those but I would make sure I put the stuff away until Easter.

As for it starting early this year, I was curious so I checked on the dates. The earliest it can begin is February 2, and the latest is March 10.

I know it’s out of fashion to fast or give something up for Lent. But there’s something so satisfying to be able to accomplish that. It shows me, every year, that I really can do this.

Father in Heaven, accept this little gift of self-denial from me, please? Once again, I will give up my beloved chocolate. It is such a small effort compared to what your Son did in the desert and mountains all those years ago. 

I Can’t Believe Lent Begins in Less Than a Week

Where does the time go? I take Lent as seriously as I can but perhaps not as much as when I was a little girl in parochial school. I do give up chocolate. I love chocolate, so doing without it for 40 days is good for my self-control, not to mention my weight.

It’s also a time when I try to make sure my Etsy shop is filled with items folks might need during Lent and Easter. Two days ago, I added some of my cross-in-my-pocket packs, and today I added some of my plastic canvas satin-ribbon cross ornaments/bookmarks.

I’m hoping to get some of each of those, in packs of pastels and Easter colors, before mid-March.

I have no problem with Easter bunnies and delicious peeps and such, but I do feel folks need to make sure that the faith-based side is covered, too. Even just a little reminder of the seriousness of the season helps.

Father, help me to be able to put aside some of my earthly concerns and concentrate on reminders of your son’s sacrifice for us. Help me to think of your son and his love for us, often, this coming Lenten season.

Special Season, Lent, Fast Approaching

When I was marking the calendar on the back page of the monthly newsletter that I do for our mobile home park (volunteer work), it included a few early days of March. I was shocked to see that Lent will begin in just a few short weeks.

Because I have been giving up chocolate each Lent for the past 10 years or so, I need to keep that in mind. It might be a terrible hardship, but I will need to eat up any and all chocolate in this house before the first Wednesday in March. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.

On a serious note, I will not, of course, stuff myself with chocolate. But I’ll eat some of it up, and store the rest for Easter Sunday. On another serious note, of course I will not rise up at 12:01 a.m. on Easter Sunday and pig out on chocolate.

But this ritual I’ve taken to has some benefits. It trains me in self-discipline. That’s one of the purposes of giving something up for Lent. It also keeps me off chocolate for about six weeks. This never hurts anybody’s health, and it’s especially good for mine. Of course, I swap out the chocolate for things like jelly beans but I eat them more sparingly than I do chocolate when it’s out and around in here.

The big thing for me is that Lent gives me a chance to reflect on my faith, its foundation, and my part in it. I think about how we can rely on how Jesus knows what it is to have a body like ours. He was in a family, he worked with his father, he walked dusty roads and hills and mountains. He fished with the working class people, he was tempted. He even feared and prayed to not have to do what he knew he had to do. Then he suffered horribly, and died. There’s nothing he does not understand firsthand, either from his own experience here, or from the experiences of his friends, loved ones, and even from his enemies. There are so many things to learn during Lent.

Lord Jesus, thank you for what you did for us. Thank you for the lessons I can learn from your life and your suffering. And thank you for being there for me - always.

What To Do With "Palm Sunday" Palm

Ever since I was a child, I loved the way some folks could turn a piece of  palm from Palm Sunday into something memorable for the rest of the year. In our family, someone, my Mom, I think, make baskets from them, about 3 in high, and we pinned them to our coats. 

An old and dear friend told me often of the time she discovered that her usually quiet stepdad surprised them all on the way home one Palm Sunday by making roses from the palm.

On my Pinterest page, you'll find pins/links to at least six places with ideas for using the pieces of palm. You can even make some pieces directly from the graphics on this page, for the simpler ideas.

Enjoy spreading the word this way, not just at Easter, but all year long.

Lent Begins Tomorrow - Already

Being an old-timer in many ways, I tend to like to follow some old traditions. For example, I find it very satisfying to give something up for Lent. Making a small sacrifice for those 40 days and 40 nights means a lot to me.

These past few years, my sacrifice has been to give up chocolate for Lent. Because I am also a devout chocoholic, this is a real deal for me. Still, I've managed to do it for a few years now. The trick, for me, is to keep enough other snacks in the house so that I do not feel unable to resist the temptation.

I don't want anyone to think I am a martyr when it comes to this. It still leaves me jelly beans, caramel popcorn, and lots of other "stuff." But I can control my intake of those much better than I can control my intake of chocolate.

So tonight I put whatever chocolate I had left (candy, cookies, whatever) into a "safe place." I made sure I would have to make a more-than-passing effort to get at them until Easter morning.

Doing this helps me to think about Lent in general. 

When I feel a yearning for chocolate, it reminds me that my tiny sacrifice is nothing compared to what Christ did during his 40 days and 40 nights in the desert and mountains.

He endured the solitude. He endured the food and drink deprivations. He endured the temptations.

He also spent that time in touch with the Father, and contemplated his immediate future. He knew what was coming. First there would be the joy of Palm Sunday. Then the misery and pain of Good Friday. And finally, the glory of Easter.

Father, thank you so much for enabling me to have this small but sincere tool of Lenten sacrifice with which to think about your Son's sacrifice, all those centuries ago. Each time I am tempted to hunt for a piece of chocolate, remind me to consider what Lent really means and what He did for me, and for all of us.

Lent Might Be Tough For Me This Year

Those of you who know me personally, or have read the blog for at least a year or more, know that I'm in the habit of giving up my beloved chocolate during Lent each year. 

Normally, I enjoy the challenge and I always seem to get through it. Most times, I can even hold out a week or two after Easter before I dive back into my obsession once again.

This year, it will be tougher, much, much tougher.

This year, Ash Wednesday arrives on the 10th, BEFORE Valentine's Day! There may have been other years when this happened but I can't remember them. Or, maybe I don't want to remember them.

Think about it...I am in the habit of buying lots and lots of chocolate the day after Valentine's Day and stashing it until after Lent. Of course, I've got to test some of it up to midnight before Ash Wednesday begins.

Oh, yes, this will be tough. I am not noble by any means. I chose chocolate a while back as something I wanted to give up for two reasons. 

First, it is something I dearly love to eat, so giving it up for Lent means a genuine sacrifice for me. This is a good thing. 

Second, it is healthier for me to be without all that sugar for the Lenten period. We won't let on that you know I am not giving up all candy - there are, of course, still jelly beans (a real fave of mine) and other treats. But once I've given up the chocolate, I tend to eat the other stuff a little less, as well.

This should be very interesting.

Father, you know how I love to make this sacrifice each year. I'm going to need a little extra help if I'm going to make it this time. You sort of tossed me a curve but I know you will give me the strength to see it through.

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.    

What This Year’s Early Ash Wednesday Means to Me

This year, Ash Wednesday is very early - February 18. 

That’s just 4 days after Valentine’s Day. Because I traditionally give up chocolate during Lent, except for a mini-York patty before bed, the post-Valentine’s Day candy sales will affect me strongly. I surely do love my chocolate. I have always been successful in doing without it (except for that itty bitty mint patty at night) throughout Lent. I might still get some candy at those sales but I will need to immediately stash it out of sight. It will keep.

It’s not that I am compelled to give it up for Lent. It’s just that I like to do that. Even as a little girl, I loved proving to myself and the Lord that I could do something for him. Once, when I was still a very heavy coffee drinker, I tried to give that up. It didn’t work. Now it wouldn’t even be a sacrifice worth considering because I rarely drink more than a cup a day, if that. But chocolate - well, giving up the amount I normally consume definitely is a sacrifice, for me.

That said, and figured out, and settled, in my mind, I will begin to look at little Lenten and Easter DIY projects. I have saved and “pinned” quite a few projects on my Pinterest boards, here at this link. And I only do that with quick and easy projects - at 75, I’ve wised up a little.

I love the idea of Lent.

I love reading little pamphlets I’ve saved through the years. Or reading the emails I subscribe to. I love thinking about those days and what Jesus did for me, for us. I also know myself. I would have been no better than Peter back in those days. I would not have been strong enough to face the crowds and admit I knew him. So I try in other ways to prove how much his sacrifice means to me. Brief meditations and readings help keep me focused and on track.

Sweet Lord Jesus, how easily we let the world and its issues distract us from what you did for us. Help me, please, to focus on you this coming Lenten season. I know I should focus on you, your teachings, your love, more often than that. But Lent helps me to at least do it during those holy weeks. Thank you for your sacrifice; help me to be worthy of your love.       

I'm In Another Etsy Treasury List

Once again, one of the Etsy shop owners included me in her Treasury earlier this week.

On Etsy, which is an online mall for handmade items, a member can create a collection of 16 items by different shop owners, with a common theme, and present them as a "gallery."

This particular Treasury is titled "Lenten Season JesusChrist is Risen Indeed!"

The gallery that they put together features various cross-themed items including crosses, wreaths, cards, pocket crosses, bracelets, necklaces, faith messages, indoor and outdoor art and wall decor, and even a prayer pocket and a tea towel. From my shop, they included my pocket cross. This is a great collection, lots of variety and lots of ways to focus on the cross as the symbol of this holy season.

The Etsyian who put this collection together is either Wendy or Linda from the Shop called Custom Designs by Mimi. They sell designer fabrics as well as baby and children's items.

It is always an honor and a surprise to be included in one of these treasuries. This time is no exception.