Lent

Here it is, Ash Wednesday already! Now I do not attend a denominational church that practices lent, but for the past few years (actually more than that, I guess) I have done my own lent tradition of "giving up" or "sacrificing" or "refraining from engaging in a certain activity" in exchange for spending that time reflecting, praying, reading or, in the case of an activity, trying to replace it with a more appropriate one. Perhaps some of you remember a few years ago when I gave up road rage for lent - what fun that was! lol! I don't know that I could say I felt like it was an immediate success; however, I do feel compelled to report to you now, whether it be because of that 40 day stint of trying to control myself or whether it's just that I've mellowed with age, my road rage now seems to be under control most of the time.

This lent season, I am giving up what has become my almost every night "before bed" habit of playing a few computer games - it seems to turn into a half hour, an hour, sometimes a couple hours - then I'm exhausted the next day because I need more sleep now than I used to - lol! So my plan and intention is to replace that habit with a more productive one; i.e. reading, meditating, praying, journalling - something that would be calming and hopefully productive. I think just the plan to "break" a habit or pattern and replace it with something else in my life is a positive one. Nothing wrong with playing computer games - in fact, some of them are good for my brain, I'm sure. However, there comes a time when it's just wasting time - I mean, really, what difference does it make if those candies get crushed or not?????