Anyway- upcoming posts- money saving tips/tricks (we are now debt free minus the mortgage!), some DIYs we learned through the kitchen remodel, some more reviews and top lists, and finally-- how our dog has truly changed our marriage.
A couple weeks ago my mother and I were talking about lent. For those of you that don't know my backstory- I was raised as I say "half Catholic and half Methodist". What I mean by that is that I attended both mass, church, and sunday school EVERY single weekend of my life from birth until 18 and when I visited home during college. I could go on.... that's a whole post in itself.. but long story short- in my faith walk now I tend to mix both upbringings. So though my husband and I are practicing Methodists, I still abide by no meat Fridays and choose to give something up for lent. (it's a Catholic thing) Now onto my point. I had thoughts about giving up "sweets" or "chocolate" or fried food.. but I TRY (most of the time) to stick to my food plan already. And when you say that- what's a sweet? Just dessert? a donut? does trail mix count? There's just a lot of gray area! And is chocolate even the little chips of dark chocolate that are in my Chobani flip yogurt?! I'm not saying anything is wrong with giving up these kind of things- but I know myself.. if there's a gray area, I'll find it and "embrace" it. Aka- if I give up "candy"... you'll just see me eating ice cream instead!
So between gray area and then thinking about the purpose of giving something up for lent.. I altered my idea. I reflected and came to the conclusion that things like candy, chocolate, fried food, etc don't really stray me from the cross or walking with Christ. But I realized what sometimes does lead me astray and where I acknowledge I am far from perfect- materialism. I have an entire bedroom as my "closet". Granted I have items in there from JUNIOR HIGH- aka things that are over 12 years old (I'm a saver, that's a whole other post in itself) but I do have a of things- clothes, bags, shoes, etc. So I decided for each day of lent- I would be giving up an item (40 things). For the first couple weeks, I picked something out each day. It started to get kind of hard last week. But this week I have been on spring break- so I tried EVERYTHING on- all hanging clothes- pants, skirts, dresses, ets. and I'm already over 50 items! For those of you that know, we still have a whole MONTH left of lent. I hope to still find one item every day until Easter, but I do know I have surpassed my goal of 40 and it feels great!!Sometimes I get to fixed on "the new bag", the new pair of Jordans, or having "nothing to wear". I also get sucked into sales and clearance! But I tend to get new things and forget to clean out. So I challenge you- whether this lent (why not start now?!) or next lent to give something up that keeps you from being Christ-like, rather than something that has a lot of gray area or that might help trim your waistline a bit.
leave the "eh" behind
hugs, abi
