12 Months of Lent

Background

My name is Jenn, a 34 years old, single mother of 2 boys.

Over the last year and a half I have been exploring my personal spirituality much more deeply, pushing limits of what I think God is asking of me. The forms this has taken have been varied and at times prolific. I went on a mission trip to Romania last year (and am going back again this year in August/September) to work with orphans. I just completed my training to become a Stephen Minister with my church on February 7th. I participate in Education for Ministry, a 4 year lay ministry education program through Sewanee that meets weekly. I was raised a Methodist but in November of 2005, after much thought and prayer, I became a card carrying Episcopalian.

Over the last few months, I have taken great interest in the teachings of St. Francis and his simplistic lifestyle. His personal story of sacrifice and casting off of personal trappings is one that I admire greatly. Sadly, at this point in my journey, being responsible for the care and upbringing of 2 children, and given that I am by and large a shallow person who really loves designer footwear and owning a plethora of skin and hair products, I am not able to embrace his lifestyle of poverty and simplicity, but his faith and sacrifice have made him a personal icon for my journey. In my studies about him, I came to draw a parallel between St. Francis and God's first commandment: You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me. In sacrificing even the smallest of personal luxuries, St. Francis made sure that God was first in his life.

The act of sacrificing the things that bring us personal gratification is a small but significant act of submission and reverence to our Creator and of his first commandment. In the 6 weeks prior to my trip to Romania, I abstained from drinking, as well as some other more "personal" sacrifices to prepare myself spiritually for my journey. As a part of my family's spiritual foundation, we picked something to give up each year at Lent. As a child this was usually ketchup, French fries, salt, Saturday cartoons or something similar that would be missed. Actually, this is pretty much true even of my adult years. Last year I gave up meat. That was less than fun. You don't realize how much meat there is in your daily life until you try to eat lunch on the go without it.

Recently, at my EFM meeting, one of my group members brought a book she thought I would like called Give it Up: My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less. The premise of the book was that the author gave up 12 different personal pleasures, one each month, for a full year. She gave up alcohol, shopping, taxis, elevators, cursing, newspapers, eating out, cell phones, television, coffee, chocolate and multitasking.

I read the entire book in one sitting. I was floored by the idea of giving up things that I most enjoyed for the sake of pushing my own boundaries, exploring the spiritual side of personal sacrifice and also just seeing if I could do it.

I decided I can.

First and foremost I must admit, this is a total rip off of Mary Carlomagno's idea. I make no claims on the genius behind it in this shameless imitation of her brilliance. Imitation is truly the sincerest form of flattery, particularly in this case.

After reviewing the author's list, I realized that some of her sacrifices were completely impractical for my lifestyle and for me to truly have the experience I am seeking. Given the nature of my job and my role as a parent, giving up cell phone use was completely impossible. Giving up taxi's would not be much of a stretch either given I take one about once every blue moon (or rather, one Saturday night a month). Ditto for elevators. This is Raleigh, NC. We don't do tall buildings here in the South. Also, while I enjoy chocolate, it is not something I crave or have great passion for except maybe 3 days a month. I will not only be making the individual scrifices each month but I will chronicle my experience here in this blog. Maybe I'll have something deep and insightful to share or maybe I'll just end up hvaing a blog filled with my whining about how much I miss ketchup and how I really can't live without my nightly double dose of CSI (I love the Spike channel). Possibly this will end up as the only place where clues about my caffeine withdrawl induced homocidal rampage can be found when it comes time for the police to sort out the bloodbath. Who knows? It will either be highly amusing or so boring your teeth will go numb. I make no guarantees.

I solicited feedback from the people that know me best.. My family, my ex-husband and my dearest friends, also known as The Usual Suspects. Both my mother and my ex-husband immediately suggested I give up black shoes. Very funny. My friends had a number of amusing suggestions from giving up wearing jeans, wearing make-up and the internet. Actually the planning stages of this endeavor have been quite illuminating. Based on my loved ones responses I am apparently incredibly shallow with a severe addiction to footwear and grooming products so a year of sacrifice can only serve to help build my personal character. After much thought, consideration and way too much input from loved ones, I have selected the following as my personal sacrifices, in no particular order:

Alcohol
Salt
Eating Out
TV (DVD's included)
Swearing
Condiments
Caffeine
Text Messaging and Personal Email
Junk Food
Fasting (Give up all food on Friday)
Meat
Music

God help me.

posted by Monet @ 7:24 PM