When I was growing up, during the Lenten season, I was relieved to not be Catholic. Our small city was predominantly Catholic, so I would hear most of the kids in school talk about what they were giving up for Lent. Chocolate, cookies, candy, cake, pizza – you name it. These kids were going without something they loved for six long weeks.
As much as I sometimes wished I could be one of the cool (Catholic) kids, with their First Communion and Confirmation events, both services usually followed by inflows of cash gifts and a big party to celebrate, when it came to giving something up for Lent, I was content to be out of that circle. We didn’t give anything up for Lent, and we still got candy from the Easter Bunny.
I had never even considered giving something up for Lent, until my Pastor, and now friend (remember him from my last post?) suggested that making a change in our daily life in response to the Lenten season was not solely owned by the Catholics. And, he suggested, that perhaps a Lenten practice could actually be the addition of something – attending a mid-week Lenten service, a daily time of prayer or Bible reading, a walk after supper, maybe even increasing water intake, I don’t know really – but it made sense. I’m pretty sure his family followed suit.
So every year since I have considered what I might change for Lent.
And for thirty-plus years I continued to not follow through, not wanting to make a commitment I knew I would break.
Until this year.
This year I am trying to drop some of the many pounds I packed on during TT’s battle with cancer and after his passing. It hasn’t been easy, especially at my How Did That Happen? age.
I signed up for Noom, and even though my results have not be stellar, I have at least stopped gaining weight. Noom is mostly psychological in its approach, with some food science and encouragement mixed in, and I am sensing subtle internal changes in how I operate around eating. That’s neither here nor there, and this is not a paid endorsement for Noom.
The point is I’ve decided to add a daily practice for the Lenten season, and it will be an experiment inspired by my Noom experience.
I am going to eat an apple each day and see if it helps me with my consumption habits.
Go ahead and chuckle if you want. I don’t really like apples unless they are in a pie, so I will be replacing something I do like (likely a less intelligent food choice) with an apple. It will be a spiritual practice; I can feel it in my bones.
I’ll let you know how I made out after Easter.
Andrea du Jour 