Thankful Thursday: Lenten Season

Yesterday was the beginning of Lent, a time of year when I always try hard to be a better Christian, a better Catholic, a better person in general. I usually start off well but then I tend to lose interest or fall off the wagon within a couple of weeks.

This year (much like every year), I vow will be different. I will not fall off the wagon. My Lenten obligations are basically the same as they are every year:

Pray more.

Be nicer.

Don’t drink sodas.

Fast on Fridays (two small meals or one large meal).

Don’t eat meat on Fridays.

Don’t miss church.

It looks like a hefty list, but “Be nicer”? Come on. That should be easy. So should “Pray more.” Also, my church on Wednesday night handed out little daily devotional books for Lent, so if I just say the prayer in that every day, it will be more than usual.

Don’t drink sodas. I usually am pretty good about keeping up with this one, but every year I forget and slip up once or twice.

Fast on Fridays and don’t eat meat on Fridays are the ones I ALWAYS forget about. I just purely don’t think about it, and then realize later that I’ve eaten three meals, had snacks, and consumed meat.

Skipping church is something that I make a conscious effort not to do, but then Sunday rolls around, and I don’t want to get out of bed… Then I figure, “No big deal; I’ll go to the Sunday evening Mass tonight.” Inevitably when the evening Mass rolls around, I will either a) forget; b) be out doing something like grocery shopping when I realize; or c) be too tired to go and will not have dinner prepared and will have an angry hungry child bound to my hip. I inevitably decide against attending the evening Mass, and then feel guilty.

So this year, I’ve come up with an incentive to comply with my obligations. Every time I mess up, I have to give $5 to charity. Now, I’m quite cheap. Five bucks is a lot of money to me, so I plan to not mess up. We’ll see how that goes!