Lent

This is the first year I participated in Lent. I thought about giving up cookies or chocolate or coffee but then decided to take a different route...I can diet anytime, right? Instead, I gave up leisure reading. For over a month I have not read a novel, a memoir, or a newspaper. Magazines have been the hardest to avoid as I love, love, love Oprah's magazine, Cooking Light and Southern Living.

I will admit, several times I caught myself mindlessly flipping through my husband's left behind sports page or a Crate & Barrel publication. I was unaware of how hard this was going to be. The idea behind giving up pleasure reading was to focus on the Bible or related works. When needing to read I have been picking up a Sunday school booklet or a devotional pamphlet. I didn't realize how much I read. Often throughout this 40 day period I have thought myself to be bored and void of creative thoughts for my own writing. However, I have found myself closer to God. A nice trade I must say.

I pray more which gives me more patience with my children and more outwardly love towards my husband. A sense of calm has come over me and I now understand that calm is not the same as boredom. The hustle and bustle of everyday life has a way of making me feel accomplished. Slowing down and growing with God has taught me that checking off a to-do list isn't what really matters.