The pressure of fasting
Yesterday signified the first day of lent*. In fact it was Ash Wednesday and for the first time in a long while I made time to get ashed on the actual day. For those of you who don’t know what lent is, here is a short definition:
Lent, in Christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Conventionally, it is described as being forty days long, though different denominations calculate the forty days differently. The forty days represent the time that, according to the Bible, Jesus spent in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, where he endured temptation by Satan.
Moving right along swiftly, as I said yesterday was the first of the 40 days of lent. There has been a huge fuss among my friends and I about what we are giving up for lent. For some it’s about the spiritual journey during that period, for others it’s about seeing if they can really stay true to the commitment they made. Either way we’re all in this together. So much so that we went to Pantsula Bites for our last meal there for the next 40 days.
While we were there the debate heated up about why we’re participating in lent and how are we going keep to our intentions over the next 6 weeks. Our one friend is giving up alcohol, which seems like it’s easy enough to do.
That is until you actually give it up, especially not with the intention of doing it forever. I did it last lent and it was one of the hardest things to do. The temptation is HUGE and it takes everything in you, not to indulge in just one sip. Knowing that I did it and survived, I can say that he’ll be just fine. What may make it tricky is hanging out with people who always insist on you drinking and in his case that is everyone. Well I kind of need to state that he is a DJ, so this should prove to be interesting.
I know what you give up should be between you and your GOD but I’m going to share with y’all. Maybe score universal support from time to time.
February 23rd
So we’re almost a week into lent and I have managed to keep true my intentions. Although I am struggling with the potty mouth, jeez I never thought it would be this hard to stop swearing.
It is actually quite scary at how most of my vocabulary and conversation is peppered with cuss word. SMH at myself…
Now the quest is to clean up my mouth, I mean my niece is learning to speak and I don’t want to be the one that taints her vocab. Although my sister has kind of beat me to it. Tsk tsk tsk, #not judging….
So we soldier on, while we battle with issues of the heart. Gosh that is another kettle of fish altogether. In fact if I only knew that I would be tempted in this way. I need to have a long hard think, even though I know better.
time is ticking...
March 9th 2010
So the 40 days continue and I would love to say it has been a smooth road, but then I would be lying. Lying is not allowed at the best of time, more especially now during lent. I think the man upstairs would disapprove highly of such actions, especially when I know better.
Anyway I tried to give up on swearing but that has gone out the window. I find that I use cuss words most when I am frustrate or very annoyed to say the least. I also you use them as descriptors to certain situations, which begs me to ask what happened to all that I was taught in school? It just goes to show that the school called life weighs must more than the conventional educational institutions I was put through. A pity really because I know enough words not say F***, S**, Dammit and the list goes on and on.
So while I try to find different methods to deal with my frustration, the mission to improve my spirituality continues. I’ve even started going to church more regularly and I take my niece with me, which is a humbling experience. I look at the religious system a little differently and I appreciate the lessons it teaches you as a person. I do not however subscribe to the blind faith that some individuals feel is the way to the Lord’s arm. There are enough reasons to be fearful in the world, to be scared beyond belief is not one of them. I know many will disagree with this statement, but it is my opinion, so deal with it.
