Lenten Reflections

Lent has started and each year I am so grateful that I'm given the opportunity to "go into the desert" with Jesus and walk this journey with him.

As a mother and wife, I really feel like I walk through the desert every day. Every single day the devil tempts me: he offers me luxuries I know I don't need, he tells me to tempt God by relying on myself, and he pressures me to worship him through temptations of the world instead of following God. Daily temptations... Laziness, vanity, jealousy, greed, pride... My list goes on and on, but you don't need to know everything I bring to the confessional!

I know that the idea of "giving something up" for Lent is something everyone has heard of, but I truly believe it's something very few people understand. I just read on another blog that, "Fasting without prayer is just dieting," and I think that a lot of Catholics forget to pray during Lent, or to offer their sacrifices as redemptive suffering. It's pretty easy to not eat meat on Friday but to visit a seafood restaurant instead, but where's the sacrifice in that? This year, I'm not focusing on "giving up" one or two particular things, but instead offering my sacrifices and joys throughout the day, and on making sure that God really comes first. Prayer will come first, even if it means trying to pray through our noisy breakfasts! I have other resolutions as well, but I don't plan on sharing them- they're between me and God. :-)

I think part of the reason I tend to think outside the box a little on this is because for the past four years, I have not been obliged to fast since I've been pregnant and/or nursing. Instead, I've come up with alternative ways to offer sacrifices, because not eating is certainly not a good thing for expectant mothers!

Instead of seeing my days as trips through the desert, I'd prefer to call to mind the image of the tree in Jeremiah 17- the tree who has deep roots planted next to the river. (This reading has come to me several ways in the past week.) It says that even though heat comes, the leaves will stay green. I know that I walk through the desert daily, but as long as my roots are planted next to Christ's stream, my leaves will stay green too!

I know my thoughts are scattered, possibly because I'm blogging in front of a Rockets game (not that I'm paying any attention!). I might decide to blog some more about it when I get my thoughts together a little more...