What I Learned During Lent

I gave up beer and junk food for Lent.

Maybe you heard.

Once or twice.

It's not like I'm a lush or anything. When I say I gave up beer for Lent, I'm talking about the equivalent of giving up 3 or 4 beer a week. The junk food.....well, uh....yes. I gave that up, too.

I don't always give up something for Lent. Sometimes I DO something. Like get up at 6:30 am and go for a run. In my defense, I was much younger then and had two working hips and two fewer children so it seemed less insane at the time.

Sometimes my Lenten challenge is just between myself and Jesus. But whatever it is, I try not to whine about what I'm doing or not doing because that's not what it's about. Every year I learn something about myself and work on my relationship with Jesus.

But this Lent, there was an added bonus.

For 40+ days, I didn't drink beer. I did not eat junk food. (Except for around my birthday....hey, I was turning 40. What better way to celebrate that but with a Bellini and a thick piece of cheese cake?) And guess what? In those 40+ days, I had only 1 migraine and it lasted for only a day and a half instead of the usual 3 days. And I lost 5 pounds. And I feel better.

It's like finding out diamonds aren't a girl's best friend, my favourite coffee is not ethically grown and my beautiful children write bad things about me in their diaries. Then someone punches me in the stomach and asks if I'd like a lovely cup of Earl Grey tea with the milk poured in the cup first, just as it ought to be.

So that kinda sucks.

Migraines or beer. Fat or chocolate. Feel good all day or feel good for a moment with salty dill pickle chips on my lips.

So the choice has been made. I've been shown the way. If my life is full of junk food and beer then it will also be full of migraines and jigglierer...er arms. Oh, the tangled web that is my life.

This is my compromise. Weekdays will see me walking the straight and narrow. Weekends will be filled with puppy dogs and fluffy kittens and the occasional beer. Or some baked dill pickle chips. Or the odd chocolate fondue. Or cookies or Easter eggs or pop or chips and dip or cake or.....

But today is Tuesday.

We'll see how it goes. Moderation. My new best friend or my new worst enemy?

Patience and Trust

The next few weeks will be a time of patience for everyone in our extended family.

In this world of 'right now', patience is becoming a lost virtue. Google, the Internet, microwaves, fast food restaurants, prepackaged foods, and instant tans..... children who want for nothing, who are never made to wait for a new bike, ipod or trip to the candy store. It has all created a society that cannot 'wait' for anything. I'm as guilty as the next person.

And then there's a phone call and your family's world changes. And you want answers. Right now. Immediately. But there are many more questions than answers and you have to wait. Wait and wait some more. And with this impatience comes the questions to God. Why this? I don't understand. It doesn't make sense. This isn't the way it's suppose to be. How could this be Your plan?

And with every question, the impatience grows. And you want more answers that are not forthcoming.

So what to do?

Trust.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And do not rely on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him
And He will make straight your paths."
Proverbs 3:5-6

It's always amazing to me that God finds a way to put my impatient heart at peace the moment I need it. The above verse is one I wrote down several months ago in my journal. I had pulled out my journal this morning and was leafing through it trying to find a blank page to write down some needed information and there it was. I turned right to the page with the verse. Right when I truly needed to be reminded that God is in charge. All my impatience won't change a thing. But putting trust in Him will give me patience.

Patience and trust. God is in control. I don't understand but God does.