I haven't been a practicing Christian for a long time. In fact I haven't seen the inside of a church since I lived in Mexico and that was just for sight seeing purposes. My kids have never been church goers and until this past year my older daughter thought that Christmas was Santa's birthday and that the angle on top of the tree was a fairy. This year we decided that it was time to start sharing the stories and holidays of our Christian background... and after last nights discussion about lent and Easter she is a bit confused about the old Easter Bunnies connection with the crucifixion of Christ. I assured her that he had nothing to do with it, but she still thinks it's all a little strange and certainly WON'T be giving up her favorite food (spaghetti and meatballs) for lent. This is why I've sheltered my kids from religion for so long... Look at how things turn out when I try to have the BIG talks with the kids. Suddenly Santa is being ushered into heaven by a chorus of Tinkerbells, and the Easter bunny is putting 30 pieces of silver in pastel colored baskets.
But just because I don't go to church doesn't mean that I'm without a moral code. I don't consider myself an atheist. My facebook profile says I'm Druid, but I've always been with Jed Clampet on this one, and I consider myself a golden ruler. I also haven't given up giving stuff up for lent. I've always loved holidays like New Year's and Lent. I love making resolutions and contracts with myself to make changes. Mental and spiritual makeovers rock! In fact I am one of the few people I know who makes New Year's resolutions that I stick to. One year I decided to acquire a green thumb... I've been growing a garden ever since... I learned to knit as a New Year's resolution... and this year I have already cleaned a fish, started researching bread baking, and signed up for a hunting class for my resolution to get closer to the source of my food. I've also been writing songs and preparing myself for my musical resolution. I plan to preform a set of my original music sometime this year. I hope to see you there.
But enough about New Years... let's get on to lent. I've decided that I'm going to give up negativity for lent. And that means that I can't give up anything for lent. Instead I have to do something positive... So let's rephrase... instead of giving up negativity I plan on embracing my positive side. I'm not going to shed extra pounds before summer... I'm going to sculpt a leaner body, eat healthier foods and start doing yoga again. I'm not going to get rid of dust bunnies... I'm going to open up the windows and create a cleaner environment in my home. In essence I plan on looking at the bright side of life.
I've been wanting to go hunting, learn how to knit (without poking my eye out preferably), figure out the mystery that is my mother's sewing machine, and keep some kind of patio/coffee table garden going.
ReplyDeleteIs Lent a Catholic thing? I always get confused.
I haven't been to church in ages.
I grew up Episcopal... which is like Catholic Lite... The catholics take lent pretty seriously... but most protestants acknowledge it in one way or the other. It the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert before he was tempted by Satan... So lots of catholics see it as a time to give something up... I'm not much of churchgoer either... but hey I did really well in Bible trivia when I was in 6th grade.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your sweet comments on my blog. I love this post. I can totally picture the Easter bunny as a witness to the crucifixion, just hanging out like he belonged there. Giving up negativity for lent is such a great idea.
ReplyDeleteAlso, making butter is really fun. I had my mom laughing at me at my attempts and my step sister thought I was crazy. She's like, "why are you making it when you can just buy it." She's nice, but she doesn't get it. I'm excited to follow you and see more of your recipes and life!
This was a wonderful post to read. You've certainly managed to accomplish many exciting things. Bread baking is on my list as well. I am Christian...though I too have not been to church in a long time. I don't remember the last time I 'did lent', but woke up today feeling like I needed to pay attention. I found a sermon online and it had some interesting stuff in it. The bottom line of the pastor's teaching was that by giving up something that brings us pleasure - thus removing distractions from our life - we gain more time and room to be in relationship with God. I really liked the perspective. He said last year he gave up food ( can you imagine fasting for 40 days ) and was amazed to find out how much of his life revolved around food - and how deeply his spiritual life grew when that distraction was removed.
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