Lent, Two Weeks In

This year is my second Lent. I love Lent.

It helps me learn about myself. It intensifies my faith. It makes me more humble.

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So far his year, I’m doing a lot of reading and reflecting and praying every morning.

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I gave up Facebook, which has been surprisingly not hard. I don’t really miss it, except for the interactions with blog readers. I suspect a lot of people come to this little site from my Facebook page, and I like getting comments over there. I also like seeing other bloggers’ Facebook comments and interacting that way. I miss the occasional fun updates from friends and family, but other than that, I think I just wasted a lot of time on Facebook. I tended to look at it out of habit or boredom more than anything, so I don’t really mind not having it.

That said, I’d like to add that Facebook is a wily temptress. I logged out of my account on Ash Wednesday eve, but I did not think to turn off notifications. So I keep getting emails with subject lines like, “Motherhood and Miscellany fans want to hear from you!” or “You have 39 notifications, 27 friend updates, 12 messages, and 2 pokes.” (What in the world is a “poke”?) I haven’t opened any of the emails, but they keep on coming, almost every day. Dear Facebook, I will not be led astray.

My other big penance is that I am not spending money on things other than food and gas (and babysitting). This seems so simple, but I have learned that I have a tendency to spend way more money than what is necessary, on a regular basis. For example, the first time I went to Target after the start of Lent, I got the things on my list (all grocery/pharmacy items), and then I noticed myself beginning to veer off to something else, probably in the crafting, school supplies, or kid’s clothing sections. I didn’t need anything else, but it is such a habit to just grab other things that would be nice to have or that I might need later. I do the same thing on Amazon and at places like Hobby Lobby. I’m really quite embarrassed about this now that I realize I was doing it (talk about a large dose of humility!).

Another part of my not spending money unnecessarily and trying to simplify things during Lent is that I have been making myself clean out the foods in my pantry and freezer whenever possible, instead of buying other pantry foods at the store. My kids are eating whatever is in the cupboards for snacks and lunch side items. I made chili last week and we were out of saltines. I started to go down the cracker aisle at the grocery store when I remembered that we had lots of other kinds of crackers in the pantry. So I served chili with Cheez-Its, Breton whole grain, and round sesame crackers. No one even seemed to care. Check out the before and two-week shots of my pantry:

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So far Lent has been so beneficial for me. I’m paying more attention to the ways I have tended to spend my time and money, and why. It’s been quite a learning experience, and I’m able to invest my efforts on more important things instead, like prayer and service and almsgiving.

How has Lent been for you??

 

 

 

 

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7 thoughts on “Lent, Two Weeks In

  1. It is so good to pare away our distraction habits! I did the same in spending in January and holy buckets I had no idea I was side-spending so much! Beautiful thoughts.

    • I’m a little horrified by how much I do this. I always thought I wasn’t too bad, because I don’t buy big items and I rarely buy anything for myself, but a little thing here and a little thing there, regardless of whom it’s purchased for, really adds up! Thanks Nell 🙂

  2. Confession: I “gave up” Facebook too…but I haven’t totally. We were stuck at home for 3.5 days last week and I found myself browsing my feed briefly on multiple occasions. Also, I have transitioned to using my work FB account instead, which has been mostly productive, but not a total fast as I sort of planned. BUT, the way I am using the site now has drastically reduced the amount of time I spend reading the feed, and for the most part I have completely distanced myself from the “junk” that clogged my feed before. I am happier and I feel freer than I did before…so it counts, right? …right…

    Also, I love the “don’t buy anything new for the pantry” idea… I hope to be more hard core about it when our lifestyle becomes more predictable during this season of the year. I am more mindful of trying to make something from what we already have.

    Dangit. The moral of this is that I am totally not on my bandwagons, am I?!

    • Hahaha! I didn’t do a great job of the pantry cooking/shopping for this next week either. I didn’t get my meal plan done last night so I was coming up with things while browsing the produce section of the store this morning, which led to the idea for stir fry, which led to me buying canned coconut milk instead of thinking of a recipe using what we already have. . . Apparently I’m hanging off my wagon a bit too! 🙂

  3. I didn’t give up FB but I wanted to be more intentional with my time. I have totally strayed in that aspect. First I said only FB from the computer, not on the phone but then there’s my women’s bible study group that meets/interacts through FB and ….Well scroll time just ends up happening. I’m thankful for the ways we’ve been fasting over here. It’s been good for me for sure. Now I just really need to figure out this waking up early thing. I didn’t commit to it this Lent but I’m starting to think I should have. Maybe I’ll tack on a midway Lenten commitment?

    Continued prayers, Amy! 🙂

    • Oooh, I will pray for you on that one. I am lost without my morning time, though I never thought I could do it before I started doing it. I hope you find what works for you in the morning! 🙂

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