Lazy Is As Lazy Does

I realize that Lent ended over a week ago, so I apologize for the lateness of this post.  As I mentioned last time, I have not made time to write lately.  Easter almost snuck past me this year.  If I had not spent part of the day with a family of purple clad Norsemen, I might not have even known it was Easter last Sunday.

For the past few years I have been observing Lent.  Last year when I gave up meat for Lent, I did not miss it at all.  I had some withdrawal symptoms at first, but after I started eating protein bars and even more peanut butter than usual, they went away.  My mind stayed focused on planning meals without meat and finding meatless options on menus.  It turns out that I can be very self disciplined at times.  I think that is mostly due to my extreme competiveness and hard headedness.  Since I have mostly abstained from foods (soft drinks, chocolate, meat) in previous years, my observations were public knowledge to the people with whom I routinely eat meals.  Having people to hold me accountable added to my motivation to stick to my dietary restrictions.  I have always treated Lent more like a dare than a religious observance.  Obviously this is not the point of Lent, so I tried to do things differently this year.

My plan this year was to give up laziness.  Living alone makes being lazy a very easy trap to fall into.  I tend to let clutter pile up around the house.  So one of my goals was to put things away when I was done with them.  This included things like washing the dishes every night and putting away laundry as soon as it is done.  My attitude was to be one of not leaving stuff undone or only half done.  I was fairly good at accomplishing this.  I also wanted to clean my house more often, but I have never been able be do that with any consistency.

My plan to start working out again did not go as well.  I did not want to spend the time and gasoline to drive all the way over to west Little Rock to use the gym that is located at PV.  I wanted to start running outside but, February and March are not the ideal months for that.  So that left me just doing push-ups and sit-ups here at the house.  I kept up with this ok but often had trouble coming up with any motivation to do it and then completely abandoned it during hospital week.

I realize that this sounds more like New Year’s resolution stuff than Lent.  I have never been good at keeping New Year’s resolutions.  So if I was going to make these lifestyle changes, I was more likely to make them stick during Lent than in January.  Even though I was able to more or less accomplish my Lenten goals, I still was not able to make any spiritual connection through my actions.  I think I may be done with Lent.  Hopefully I can find some other means of drawing closer to God.  I do not want to leave you on that down note, so I am including a Lent recap from one the elders at my church.

Lent is not a Bible commanded discipline.  Rather it is a discipline that allows someone during the time of the Easter holiday to deny oneself something in order to focus on Jesus and his sacrifice.  I gave up iced tea for Lent this year.  As I understand, as thoughts related to iced tea have entered my head, I am to use those thoughts to think back to some aspect of the cross and the sacrifice that Christ made for me.  Here are some of the thoughts that have entered my head over the past nearly 40 days since I had iced tea.

1) I messed up.  In my routine, it is not unusual for me to have iced tea with lunch and supper.  While I had committed to giving up iced tea, without even thinking, twice in the first week, I drank tea at lunch without even thinking about it.  Thought that came from the error?  I am grateful for grace that covers my sin.  I sin at times without even thinking, like I drank the iced tea.

2) My head hurts.  Without the caffeine from the iced tea, I developed horrible headaches the first few days.  Yet, that was nothing compared to the pain that Christ suffered for me on the cross.

3) I really want a glass of iced tea.  On several occasions, I have had great iced tea placed in front of me.  I said, “No thanks.”  But, oh how I really, really wanted it.  I could taste it going down my tongue, the back of my throat and into my stomach.  It made me think about how much I should long for heaven and how the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus made it possible.

4) I really haven’t given up much.  While I love the taste of iced tea, giving it up was not really much of anything; especially when you compare it to what Christ gave up for me and for all of us.  He left heaven.  Lived on earth.  He was beaten, whipped and crucified.  He was buried in a tomb.  He rose.  And he lives in heaven with God and lives today in His church.

I am not sure I will do Lent again.  I kind of think that I will.  I like how God has allowed me to use iced tea to help me think about God’s great gift of grace and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  It is good to be more mindful of the sacrifice made for us.