Lent is quickly approaching...

{an old photo of mine}

This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season.  As Catholics, we try to make some kind of Lenten sacrifice. But Lent is a great way for any Christian to try to make some sacrifice or pledge to prepare for the Easter miracle. We can give something up or make a concerted effort to do something that is hard for us to do.  Over the years, my lenten sacrifices have really taught me a lot.  As a child one year I actually gave up sucking my thumb as a lenten sacrifice.  Can you believe that?  I was quite the committed thumb sucker. Seriously, that is how I quit.

While some people dread Lent, I actually look forward to it.  I look at it as a time to be really disciplined.  And it is only 40 days.  I feel like I can be disciplined for 40 days.  One year I gave up blogging.  One year I gave up shopping (that was hard but very good). Dave LOVED that!!

Last year, I added exercise (that was tough) AND got rid of 40 bags of stuff in 40 days.  We also did the Lenten jar which was awesome and Kate has been asking when we "get to do it again!"  You can read about it here but it is GREAT for families to do with small  (or BIG) children.

So, this year, I am debating what to do.  I am definitely doing the 40 bags in 40 days again.  I loved that. It was a sacrifice in that I had to clean, de-clutter and organize pretty much every single day but it was SO rewarding to be rid of excess stuff. The idea is that material things and clutter take our time and focus away from God.  And I think that is true.  So, I am working on a schedule to go room by room and purge.  I will post it here soon in case anyone wants to join in.

I want to do one more thing though too.  I am considering giving up gluten. Even though I am mostly gluten free for about 5 years, this would be hard.  See, when the doctors told Harry he could add gluten back into his diet, we all started eating it again.  And I am not sure that was the best decision for me.  I have gained weight.  I feel tired a lot.  I know that I can handle some occasional gluten in my diet but I think I eat too much now.  So, I thought if I gave it up for Lent, I can slowly (after Lent) go back to my 90% Gluten Free way of living that works best for me (I do not have Celiac's disease, I just know that eating too much gluten does not agree with me).

I have also considered giving up shopping again.  That was so powerful for me to just focus on the absolute minimum needs of our family.  I gained a lot of perspective that year.

I have also considered volunteering in some way that takes me out of my comfort zone. I expect that would be a long term commitment but I could get the ball rolling for Lent.

So, I need to spend the next few days thinking about what I need to do the most right now and what would be a good sacrifice.  How about you?  Anyone else doing anything for Lent?

P.S. I am still chugging along in my Bible reading plan for the new year. I am reading the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs.  I am actually a few days behind but doing 2 readings a day to catch up.  You can start anytime.  It is SO doable and really good for me. It helps to keep my focus off the unimportant minutiae that we all get caught up in.