Getting ready for Lent

There seem to be two different schools of thought about Lent. One of them is the more traditional one that caution us to start dialing it down, to start sobering up, to start getting our head in the game for the Church's longest fast of the year.

The other which, to be honest, I've found more frequently among my own evangelical crowd (and in my own chocolate-lovin' heart) is what I'd call the "dive in head first" category. Live it up, enjoy those things you're about to surrender for forty days, 'cause boy howdy, you're gonna miss 'em.

The problem is, the more I think about it, the more this seems sort of nonsensical. It's like giving the kids lots of sugar before bed, rather than helping them calm down with a story and a cup of milk. I mean, things like pancake dinners on Fat Tuesday make sense (used to be that's how you got rid of the sugar, fat and eggs left in the house), but the urge I'm feeling to buy lots of candy RIGHT NOW? I think that might have more to do with my tendency towards gluttony than any wisdom about getting ready for Lent.

No, I think that Ordinary Time is a time to live, well, ordinarily. I want to be moderate now, so that I can notice the difference between now and a feasttime, when it comes. So, I think what I'm going to try to do during this last week of Ordinary Time is to be moderate. Not to fast, 'cause that's not the time of year it is, but not to eat past fullness either (literally and metaphorically).

So, I'm going to get ready for Lent by living like I don't know that next week is the beginning of Lent. I'll prepare myself by deciding how I'm going to celebrate Lent, but in my moment-to-moment behavior, I'm hoping to largely ignore the impending season.

'Cause, y'know, Jesus could come back before Wednesday. Here's hoping!


peace of Christ to you,
Jessica