And I\u2019m going to ramble a bit to see if anything interesting comes out.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re Protestant, the idea of special Lenten practices may or may not mean anything to you. \u00a0Me, I\u2019ve always* been a giver-upper. \u00a0I\u2019ve given up sweets during Lent during college, and periodically since then (though Lent during my third pregnancy doesn\u2019t really count, since the whole gestational diabetes meant no sweets in any case), and some of the motivation (maybe a fair bit) now is a matter of weight loss, though that wasn\u2019t the case in college, when I was much thinner than now. <\/p>\n
(\u201cAlways\u201d referring to my adult life; I grew up Lutheran where that wasn\u2019t really a practice.)<\/p>\n
Was it about penitence? \u00a0No, not really. \u00a0I\u2019m not entirely sure why I did, back in college, except it seemed like the right thing to do, was a bit of a challenge, and, as I\u2019ve got a bit (OK, maybe a lot) of a sweet tooth, it was a sort of \u201csweets detox.\u201d <\/p>\n
But even so, I still get a bit annoyed when I hear people saying, repeatedly, that \u201cgiving something up\u201d is no good, because the right thing to do is adopt a new spiritual practice, whether it\u2019s \u201cget up earlier to pray in the morning,\u201d or the ever-popular \u201csay the rosary while driving into work.\u201d <\/p>\n
And \u2014 look, if you can do it, then great. \u00a0If you have a great prayer life, but kick it up a notch during Lent, good for you. \u00a0Or if go to daily mass, or read the Bible, good job. \u00a0Pat yourself on the back.<\/p>\n
But, whether it\u2019s sweets, or facebook, or something else, it\u2019s still perfectly legitimate to give something up! \u00a0Giving up sweets isn\u2019t just about the vanity of fitting into a smaller clothes size, but about health, and God does want us to take care of our health. \u00a0Giving up excessive internet surfing makes time for more productive activities. \u00a0And the mere act of practicing self-discipline is a good thing, even if there isn\u2019t a specifically \u201cprayerful\u201d component to it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
And I\u2019m going to ramble a bit to see if anything interesting comes out. If you\u2019re Protestant, the idea of special Lenten practices may or may not mean anything to you. \u00a0Me, I\u2019ve always* been a giver-upper. \u00a0I\u2019ve given up sweets during Lent during college, and periodically since then (though Lent during my third pregnancy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8,14],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-catholicism","tag-lent"],"yoast_head":"\n