So today is Ash Wednesday. For many years, that didn't really mean a lot to me. When I was kid, that meant seeing a grayish smear on top of my mother's usual thick coating of Covergirl foundation, thinking of her sneaking off to church during her already hectic day at work, and wondering why my father, an agnostic at best, did not have one to match. Then as a teen and young adult, scoffing at the rabid believers who walked around with such hideous symbols of their blind faith. But now, having returned to the fold to some degree, Ash Wednesday has become special to me.
Ash Wednesday heralds the beginning of Lent, a period of forty days where Catholics are supposed to be doing some kind of preparation related to Easter of which I am still unclear, other than dyeing Easter eggs and buying Reese's Peanut Butter eggs for their kids baskets, eating them all, and having to go back to Target for a second batch. Part of this preparation is to "give up" something of importance to show God you understand the important sacrifice he made giving us his son. The choice is yours, as long as what you give up makes it a reasonably challenging sacrifice. I explained to the girls giving up broccoli is not an appropriate choice for a Lenten sacrifice. This year I am giving up desserts.
Stop laughing. At least I was smart enough not to think I could give up wine for forty days. I truly can not remember the last time I gave anything up for Lent. I'm not totally on board with the thanks-for-Jesus-I'm-not-going-to-eat-cupcakes-to-pay-you-back connection, but I was inspired to do it earlier this year by the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. I love the concept of a day of repentance and atonement (what Catholic doesn't!?), so while I can't fast for the entirety of Lent, going without doughnuts might begin to feel that way. There are times when I could've been a better mother, wife, daughter and friend and I'll try to bear that in mind when H is sitting on the couch next to me wolfing down the Girl Scout cookies that were just delivered.*
I'm also doing this coming from the Irish Catholic perspective of God, first brought state-side by the Puritans, of an angry, judgmental diety, who will smite you should you fail to show enough gratitude for all He has given you. And while I do not truly believe misfortune will befall my family if I eat cake, I do occasionally engage in bartering with the Big Guy. I never told anyone, but I gave up wine in exchange for our house selling quickly two year ago. Luckily, it took two days, and they were weekdays, so we'll never know how serious I actually was. But I do think showing God I know how very lucky I am can't hurt and His seeing me cry at the chocolate-themed mother/daughter book club meeting I have to go to Friday will be pretty good evidence in my opinion.
So here's hopin', dear readers. I might not be able to write due to sugar DT's, but I'm determined to make it. I even inspired #1 to give up her Nintendo DS - which to be fair is like my giving up graham crackers, she enjoys playing it, but it's not really her first choice of screen time - so we will be keeping each other in check. Having her watch me struggle will show her how important I think this is.
It will also make her more understanding when she finds Mommy face-down in her basket come Easter morning.
*My being off sweets will definitely help our effort this year to not consume all the boxes ordered from our Girl Scout daughters by our families before we can deliver them, which is what we did last year. They were all kind enough not to ask where their Thin Mints were. To be fair, they hadn't paid for them yet, and we wound up eating, and paying for, eighty dollars worth of cookies.
No comments:
Post a Comment