Each year, palms from last years Palm Sunday are burned to ashes, blessed with holy water and placed on our foreheads in the shape of a cross on Ash Wednesday.
This signifies our intent to journey the next 40 days with a conscious heart to begin anew.
Traditionally, Lent tends to be confusing to non-Catholics. It really is more than eating fish on Fridays, and "giving" up something simple for 40 days....and then picking the habit back up again on Day41.
More often than not, I think the misconception is that we just give up a food product:)
I really like to think of it as choosing something that I enjoy maybe to much or even struggle with, and sacrificing that for 40 days, making a true effort to acknowledge and try to change the struggle.
No matter what Christian faith you are, we all know this to be true..... Jesus sacrificed his life on the cross for all of us. How insignificant giving something up for 40 days truly is in comparison.
Because of this, Ash Wednesday is the start of a personal journey each year, a reflection of something I need to change, appreciate more, or need less of in my life.
I look at this as a time to grow in my faith, learn more about myself and is also a time of reflection for me as a Mother.... enabling me to help the kids see that no one is perfect on Earth....but it's attempting the change for God that creates your perfectness in his eyes.
Think about how often we do simple things everyday, that we know are not projecting God's love into the world. Or as I will confess here, so mindless and stupid.
For instance, I say "SHIT" way to often. I admit it, it is flaw I have and such a petty one! One of those mindless things, a bad habit that I have gotten into day after day. Some may say "what is the big deal, it is a just word?" come one, there are worse things in life I could be doing, right?
I know.... saying SHIT after slamming my finger isn't huge on the "SIN" meter, but it is still something that bothers me that I do.
I guess I think of it this way....Eric and I live our lives for our kids. Sooner than later, they will be out in the real world and not under our protective wings. Each and every day is an oppurtunity to influence them in the best way we know how. I am not being the best example of self control to them, no matter how insignificant a word may be to others.
I KNOW my kids could be listening, and yet I still do it. It shows a serious lack of self control on my part. I am choosing to do this without really trying to stop..... I knowingly make this choice and it is simply out of habit. So, this is one of my personal struggles.
This year, this will be what I "give up".
Funny, it really doesn't seem like I will be on the losing end , if I manage to not say it for 40 days. Isn't that ironic.....or maybe just God's plan for each of our Lenten journeys, we may all find we actually end up winning by "giving it up".
And I don't think God intends this to be faith based either. Anyone should and could have this journey, whether your Catholic or not.
In addition, I am also going to spend 40 days doing something I am calling "Lenten Laundry".
I am going to "launder" brownfamfives lives, and remove things we do not need and enable us to live a simpler, more efficient life.
Each day, for the next 40 days, I am going to clean and organize one area of our house, one pocket that may or may not need cleaned or organized, but I am going to launder it anyways.
Maybe you will join me? By Easter, we can "rise again" as Jesus did and have more peace and simplicity in our lives!
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