Today Christians around the world (New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sydney) will feast and frolic, imbibe and indulge. Tomorrow Lent begins. I confess Lent is one of my favorite times of the year. It's a life boat of hope in my personal sea of hedonism.
The promises made to put aside vices and embrace virtues at New Year are made to self. And those blessed with strong self-discipline probably have great success with New Year resolutions. But those of us born with self-discipline the size of a housefly, and just as easily led astray with a little sugar water, don't find New Year resolutions nearly as productive.
Promises made only to myself aren't enough to keep me 'resolved'. I require more. Apparently I require a promise be made directly to the Alpha Omega of the Entire Universe before I consider it sufficiently binding.
So Thank God for Lent! Literally.
Lent is a time of penance, of suffering offered in repentance of sin. For me, giving up fast food binges, pointless net surfing, and couch potato comas isn't easy. But there's also joy in the release from vice, a swell of hope that turns into a tidal wave of well-being as the weeks progress. And, despite post-Lenten backsliding, there's always long term improvement, some degree of permanent relinquishing of vice.
Last night I attempted to list my failings. I managed to jot 15 items before being distracted by junk food and tv. Five of those 15 were things that directly impact my ability to write novels. The remaining 10 impact my ability to keep writing novels well into old age. Today I'll select a few of those 15 vices to relinquish for Lent.
How about you? Do you have vices that are keeping you from reaching your goals? What are you doing to clear your path to success?
Something that's helping me write today: This quote from Scott Reed: This one step - choosing a goal and sticking to it - changes everything.
The promises made to put aside vices and embrace virtues at New Year are made to self. And those blessed with strong self-discipline probably have great success with New Year resolutions. But those of us born with self-discipline the size of a housefly, and just as easily led astray with a little sugar water, don't find New Year resolutions nearly as productive.
Promises made only to myself aren't enough to keep me 'resolved'. I require more. Apparently I require a promise be made directly to the Alpha Omega of the Entire Universe before I consider it sufficiently binding.
So Thank God for Lent! Literally.
Lent is a time of penance, of suffering offered in repentance of sin. For me, giving up fast food binges, pointless net surfing, and couch potato comas isn't easy. But there's also joy in the release from vice, a swell of hope that turns into a tidal wave of well-being as the weeks progress. And, despite post-Lenten backsliding, there's always long term improvement, some degree of permanent relinquishing of vice.
Last night I attempted to list my failings. I managed to jot 15 items before being distracted by junk food and tv. Five of those 15 were things that directly impact my ability to write novels. The remaining 10 impact my ability to keep writing novels well into old age. Today I'll select a few of those 15 vices to relinquish for Lent.
How about you? Do you have vices that are keeping you from reaching your goals? What are you doing to clear your path to success?
Something that's helping me write today: This quote from Scott Reed: This one step - choosing a goal and sticking to it - changes everything.
7 comments:
Romulus Crowe said...
I'm not religious so won't be observing Lent. Nonetheless I really have to try to give up procrastinating. It's addictive.
It's fun, I admit. If only it didn't take so much time.
Regina Richards said...
The industrious work from sun to sun, but a procrastinator's work is never done. :)
K.M. Saint James said...
Ooh, I love great quotes. Not a lent gal . . .Southern Baptist and all . . . we believe in faking perfection all the time. Might do better shooting for a few weeks out of the year. Could be the Baptist would perk up.
As for giving up bad habits, I'm with you on the TV thing. Some nights after work, when I know I should be at the computer, the 'will' can't overcome the laziness of the 'body'.
Helpful tip to think about inserting Lent as a reason to clean up those vices. As soon as I have one more cookie, I'll give it serious thought.
Regina Richards said...
Hey Sandra,
My hubby's parents were Southern Baptist missionaries. Good people.
About twelve years ago we gave up TV for Lent. From that naturally sprang the practice that there is no TV before 3 pm at our house - 3 pm is when cartoons come on. It no longer even occurs to me to watch tv during the day. But we are giving up tv again this Lent to get rid of the evening distraction. I'll miss MI5, Masterpiece Theater, Harvard Law classes, Sherlock Holmes, The Big Bang Theory, and Survivor, but the rest of it won't be missed.
A hard one this year will be no web surfing or email checking between 9:30 am and 3:30 pm. Very tough for me.
But the absolute torture will be giving up my Dr. Pepper. Lent is barely a few hours underway and I'm already in serious withdrawal.
Beth Shriver said...
As you know from viewing my devotional, I love quotes! And this one is very appropriate for us writers!
Beth
Gina said...
I really identify with what you've shared so openly. Now I'm curious what the fifteen are...what more do we have in common?
Regina Richards said...
You've inspired my next post, Gina.:)