Ash Wednesday

And so Lent begins.

It's really my favorite time of year.


A New Year of sorts.


I actually never can get into the new year's resolutions...I don't make them??!?


I'm not sure why, I think I'm just too overwhelmed after the whole holiday thing to think and plan one more thing.


I'm usually dealing with some major disappointment by some family member/function.


So I tend to pamper myself in self pity and all the left over cookies...


BUT LENT is definitely different.


I think about it for days ahead,


trying to be sensitive to what the Lord would want from me.


and trying to discern whether what I think I will do or not do about me or about Him?


I examine my motives, and really try to be before Him as I begin the Lenten journey.


and so


I'm my usual lenten groggy self...due to the no caffeine, it's seems to be the given for the past
few years...I just know drinking the amount of coffee I drink is not good for my body, my health! or our budget.

I shared my last cup of starbucks with my new friend Carolyn at Barnes and Noble yesterday afternoon...she arrived a little later than I did so I even had time to browse through my favorite magazines...luscious......
and the white mocha was even more delicious knowing it was to be the last in a long while.

Some years past I totally quit shopping.

I've already basically become non consumer...so onto bigger and better things this year.

We've set high aspirations for ourselves this year.

We know our bodies are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit yet we don't care for them as we should.

So health is first.

No caffeine, no sugar...desserts, treats, etc...

Cutting out the meat! Except maybe for Sunday dinner,

So more fruits and vegies.

I'm actually looking forward to the revolt that my stomach and intestine will engage in as the great detox begins...I will know this is working, cleansing me from within.

Wednesdays and Fridays our prayer group asked them to join in just a bread and water fast for a special intention of theirs.....

and exercise...which I really don't enjoy, but I've committed to daily yoga and trying to at least learn the basic foundations of Tai Chi.

And it felt so good this morning to stretch...to breath, before anything even entered my body?!

Usually I clump down the steps to the coffee pot and begin my day quietly sitting.

But to mmooovvve

How lovely it felt

and...then... to have a cup of tea.

Yes, I love the opportunity for change and discipline that Lent provides.

To serve God thru my daily practices, with my very existence, to have everything I do refocus yet, again...and be conscious of HIM. To honor Him by caring more carefully for this body He has given me.

And then perhaps to be of use to Him while I am yet in this body...


and the whole time remembering again of what He did for me...
coming into a human body
to be a sacrifice for my sloppiness, my lazy living...my selfishness...for my sins.

Its' a wonderful time of the year,
one a new year's resolution could never come close to touching.