But first, How NOT to Love Lent:
1. Decide that it's a season of moaning/groaning/general unhappiness
2. Decide to give up chocolate IF I HAVE TO.
3. Ignore any and all posts on the internet that try to convince you otherwise
I have done all of this, so I can attest that this easy 3 step method WILL WORK if your goal is to be unhappy for the next 46 days.
I, however, do not want to be unhappy for the next month and a half - I want to get closer to God. So let's try something else shall we?
How to Love Lent:
1. decide to write a blog post with that title and see if it can help
(oh look I'm doing well so far!)
2. research ideas for ways to observe Lent with children
(My general attitude is quite toddler-tantrum-like anyway, so this might help me as well)
3. Enter a couple giveaways on Instagram, cause hey, who doesn't like winning stuff?
I have to admit, it's only Ash Wednesday - but these steps seem to be working so far, so maybe at Easter I'll let you know if it's a foolproof plan to Lent Lovingness.
In the meantime, this is what we'll be doing as a family and also what I'm going to try and do:
1. go to Mass a little bit more - always the number one way to observe the season, no? Starting of course with today:
In the meantime, this is what we'll be doing as a family and also what I'm going to try and do:
1. go to Mass a little bit more - always the number one way to observe the season, no? Starting of course with today:
2. Complete a Jesus Tree - I was hesitant to do this again, not because we didn't enjoy it last year (we loved it!), but because I thought the wee girl would find it boring to repeat the activity. But after printing it all out and putting it on the wall, she seemed excited, and also like she didn't even remember it from last year. Ummm... so I guess that makes it like brand new?
3. Lent Dice - I admit it. This is mainly how I'm getting around the whole give up sweets for the whole 40 days business. Every day we roll the dice and see what we're doing and who/what we're doing it for. So really, every day I have only a 1 in 6 chance of having to give up chocolate! (I'm terrible, aren't I?) The kids are really excited about the "rolling" aspect of the dice... we'll see how we all do at "doing" the thing on it.
4. Above All - so I actually did win one of those giveaways on Instagram that I alluded to above! I find it highly amusing because I had already made a deal with myself that I wasn't going to buy any new devotionals. (I was/still am feeling really guilty after the dismal completion of the one I bought for Advent: I did 2 days of it and then it became a dust catcher.) But I half-jokingly prayed, "God, if you want me to do something special then you'll have to make it happen." And well, we know how that prayer (often) turns out. So, consider this my plea for accountability - help me do more than just 2 days in this thing! (And no, I will not allow 3 to be good enough.)
As I shared before, I want this Lent to be more about God and less about what I think I'm missing out on. I hope that by doing these things with my family, we'll accomplish just that.
What will you be doing for Lent this year?
