Lent Report

Despite the fact that we are not Catholic, Ben and I have found it a beneficial tradition to "give something up" for the purpose of increasing our reliance on God.

My goal was to give up two things, sweets and my stress level.
Here is a report of the outcome:

Sweets - this was not nearly as hard as I thought! I have never gone that long without a pop, even though on average now days I only have one organic pop every two weeks. I don't typically have other sweets in my home, except organic chocolate and my favorite in-a-hurry breakfast treat, organic chocolate toaster pastries. So I gave those up, and I gave up any of those away-from-home temptations that show up. It's surprising how frequently one encounters sweets away from home! Sometimes I was almost relieved to have an excuse to turn them down. Don't we often eat only due to social pressure? Sometimes I was disappointed. It was so hard to turn down a lemon bar! But overall I was surprised by how NOT difficult this was for me. I wanted to give up all sweets but organic chocolate, but Ben said NO, we are having NO sweets. I did not think I could do it. I thought I would be starving and give into a "quick and easy" toaster pastry at some point. I did not. Ben did cheat one or two times. :) This whole experience taught me that alternative choices are available, and that someday I will be able to give them up altogether. I was excited to eat ice cream yesterday. But I couldn't even finish it all! It was too rich. I drank a pop and had oreo pie. I ate a homemade caramel. Today I will stick to organic chocolate. But that's it! I don't feel a need for more. I know now how unnecessary these things are. And, I lost a few pounds unintentionally. Fitting into some old pants is definitely worth saying no to sugar.

Stress: I really did okay with this one. Despite all the regular pressures and deadlines I really don't feel I got "stressed." I definitely noted regularly the discrepancy between the tasks that needed to be accomplished, and the time available to do them. Ben will say I still brought this up too often. I would say I was being proactive: noting a problem, and doing something to fix it. I asked for help when I needed to. Unfortunately not as much help came through as I was hoping for, so with taxes due around the corner, today it's time to be stressed again :)

Spiritually - I did occasionally reflect on how much greater God can fill my needs than the temporary fix of giving in to a craving. I did read my Bible more and definitely realized how much starting my day in this way reduced my stress level. I am more determined to meet the goal of Matt. 6:33 (the "seek ye first" verse).

Next year we will have to do pizza. Even the organic frozen ones. Instead we will have to plan more meals, and be all the healthier for it. Our kids would love this actually...have you ever met kids that don't like pizza?! They complain every time.