Lent has started. Did you give anything up ? I have given up eating any form of potato chips. It is a symbolic gesture. Lent is a time of fasting and sacrifice. I, along with the wife and the Grandchildren, make this a game. Let's see who can go the longest. Last year everybody won. In the bigger picture I think this can be a learning tool. Teach them about will power. Also teach them about making a promise and then keeping that promise. After all, you don't want to break a promise you make to God. Seems a lot worse than just breaking a promise to Grandpa. Of course with Grandpa you are going to hear about it a lot sooner, so there is always that.
The little kids are waiting for the arrival of the Easter Bunny. When I was small we were told giving something up for lent was part of that. If you gave something up in the end you would be rewarded. At first we were rewarded with those Easter baskets and chocolate bunnies. When I got older I came to understand that the giving up, the sacrifice, was the important part in all of this. Yes it is related to a religious practice but isn't it also a life skill ? A skill more children should be taught today, in my opinion. You can make changes in your life and get positive results. Giving something up is not a bad thing. I also learned that you didn't need a team of counselors or a program to accomplish that. All that is necessary is willpower and the belief that you can do it. The strength is inside you. That Strength does need to be exercised just like anything else.
It is also during this period of Lent that traditional spring cleaning takes place. I confess to not holding to that tradition as much as in the old days. That tradition was more prevalent in my Grandmothers time. But you do have to remember things were quite a bit different. My Grandmother was old fashioned, even in her time. That is to say she didn't have all the modern appliances and conveniences. For instance, she didn't own a vacuum cleaner. She would have called it a Hoover. In the spring she would take her rugs outside, hang them over the clothesline or a piece of fence, and beat them clean. Oh the dust would fly ! In the house the windows were thrown open and things dusted and cleaned from the long winter. She had a wood stove and the dust was built up from that. The house smelled like winter, warm and dry. Once the windows were open and things aired out, it was like a new place. Spring, a renewal.
All these things are just a part of a cycle. The natural order of life. It is a comfort. I'll be looking forward to Easter. Following Easter I can once again have potato chips, if I so choose. Having already proven to myself that I can go without, the option is mine. I am in control. Where that strength comes from I will leave to the reader to decide. I will tell you it is inside us all. All you need to do is accept it and exercise it. The manner in which you choose to do so is your choice. Me, I'm giving up Potato chips. At least for forty days I am.
The little kids are waiting for the arrival of the Easter Bunny. When I was small we were told giving something up for lent was part of that. If you gave something up in the end you would be rewarded. At first we were rewarded with those Easter baskets and chocolate bunnies. When I got older I came to understand that the giving up, the sacrifice, was the important part in all of this. Yes it is related to a religious practice but isn't it also a life skill ? A skill more children should be taught today, in my opinion. You can make changes in your life and get positive results. Giving something up is not a bad thing. I also learned that you didn't need a team of counselors or a program to accomplish that. All that is necessary is willpower and the belief that you can do it. The strength is inside you. That Strength does need to be exercised just like anything else.
It is also during this period of Lent that traditional spring cleaning takes place. I confess to not holding to that tradition as much as in the old days. That tradition was more prevalent in my Grandmothers time. But you do have to remember things were quite a bit different. My Grandmother was old fashioned, even in her time. That is to say she didn't have all the modern appliances and conveniences. For instance, she didn't own a vacuum cleaner. She would have called it a Hoover. In the spring she would take her rugs outside, hang them over the clothesline or a piece of fence, and beat them clean. Oh the dust would fly ! In the house the windows were thrown open and things dusted and cleaned from the long winter. She had a wood stove and the dust was built up from that. The house smelled like winter, warm and dry. Once the windows were open and things aired out, it was like a new place. Spring, a renewal.
All these things are just a part of a cycle. The natural order of life. It is a comfort. I'll be looking forward to Easter. Following Easter I can once again have potato chips, if I so choose. Having already proven to myself that I can go without, the option is mine. I am in control. Where that strength comes from I will leave to the reader to decide. I will tell you it is inside us all. All you need to do is accept it and exercise it. The manner in which you choose to do so is your choice. Me, I'm giving up Potato chips. At least for forty days I am.
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